Spice in the water

Shifting slightly Rainbow dash had roused from her sleep after one particularly nice dream, opening her eyes tentatively, and finding herself in her own bed. She couldn't quite remember just how she'd gotten there, but the throbbing headache was a clue. Turning her head to the side, she was bet with the sight of her own flank raised high up in the air. Recalling portions of her dream she quickly brought her rear down onto the bed.

"My head is killing me, every time with that Manehattan cider..." She grumbled to herself as she slowly hovered down stairs, her bedhead ruffling her mane out in every direction. As she made her way to the bottom of the stairway, she saw him and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh... Hey Big guy... When did you get here?"

"Get here? I never left." he chuckled.

"But you-" She started, a blush creeping her way back onto her face again. He continued eating as she attempted to pieced it together.

"You mean we... You spent the night here?" She asked, and he nodded with a bemused look. He seemed to be making her blush quite a lot lately.

"That explains that dream." She said, sitting at the table a bit of shame on her face. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"We must have been pretty drunk..."

"You were, I wasn't."

"You weren't?! Then why would you-?! I mean I can't say I wouldn't, but still!" She said, and he quirked a brow at her.

"What?" He shook his head in confusion.

"Nothing!" She said quickly, dropping her nose into her toast.

"...Look, you told me to carry you home, so I brought you to your room, and put you down on your bed. Then you hugged me and we fell asleep. That's all." He rolled his eyes deciding that was enough teasing for now. She blinked with a puzzled look on her face, before a wave of relief washed through her and she relaxed.

"You know for somepony supposed to be hung over, you are pretty well off right now." He said, finishing off his breakfast and taking the dishes to the sink.

"I recover quickly." She said, and he instinctively chuckled.

"I should have known." He shook his head. "What don't you do quickly?"

"Well there is one thing..." She mumbled, gazing off to the side.

"What's that?" I asked, looking back over my shoulder.

"Nothing." She said dismissively, flying over to the door.

"Well, I gotta go, I have weather patrol this morning." She said, glancing back at him.

"Alright, later babe." He said, with a grin.

"Bye, love you!" She said quickly, darting out the door. Just as soon as she'd said it, her hooves covered her mouth. She sped off into the cover of the clouds, (The ones in the sky, not her house) and sat there practically kicking herself.

"Why did I say that?! I'm so stupid!" She grabbed a bunch of cloud, covering her face with it. She growled into it thrashing around a bit before laying back and uncovering her face.

"No, it's okay. This isn't a problem, so what if I said I lo- if I said I looo-" She couldn't bring herself to repeat it.

"H-he probably didn't even notice, right? He'll just pass it off like it was nothing... right?" She felt anxiety bubbling up in the back of her throat. Or that could also be vomit.

"No he's too smart for that, he's probably thinking I'm too clingy or something." She said to herself rolling around a bit before bringing up her head with a gasp.

"What if he thinks I'm one of those crazy marefriends?" She started nibbling on her hoof.

"No, Rainbow dash, don't loose your cool. It's fine, you're fine. Just go, do your job, and stop thinking about it. He'll probably forget you said anything by tonight anyways." Something about that thought actually made her feel worse.

"Why did I have to go off and say something so stupid!" She buried her face in her hooves for a second before she actually took off towards the town. Her duties for today was to clear out the clouds for a completely sunny day, and move them out towards the hills for a drizzle tomorrow.

"Hey! Hey Rainbow dash!" A voice called out from below, bringing her skidding to a stop (...in the air... somehow). She looked down to see one Pinkie pie waving frantically to her.

"Hey Pinkie!" She shouted back to her before she made her decent downwards.

"Okay Dashie you absotivly posolutly have to come with me right now!" Said Pinkie, grabbing Rainbow dash by the shoulders.

"Whoa whoa, Pinke, what are you talking about?" She asked, stepping backwards.

"The prank! If you don't come quick you'll miss it!" Pinkie said as she trotted in place.

"A Pinkie prank huh? Well this I have to see." Rainbow dash said, noticeably intrigued.

"Goody goody! Follow me!" Said pinkie curling into a ball and rolling off into the bushes. Rainbow dash followed her on hoof. They'd walled down an alley and were peeking through another bush to look out at the busy street.

"What am I looking at?" Asked Rainbow dash, looking for the source of the prank, but it looked just like any other street.

"Oh you'll see." Pinkie snickered into her hooves as her friend searched. Few seconds later one of the ponies passing by stopped in the middle of the street and lifted his hoof. A rope snapped and sprung from the grass trailing up to a lamp post, and dropping a large bag.

"Waaaait for it..." Said Pinkie with a building anticipation. As the bag hit the ground, it bounced a bit sloshing as it settled.

"Looks like it was a dud Pinkie." Said rainbow dash.

"Aww, what happened?" Pinkie poked her head out of the bush. Just then one grey pony walked up to the bag, lowering her muzzle to sniff at it.

"Sorry Pinkie, you can't win em all I guess." Said Rainbow dash. As she stood, the grey walleyed pony poked at the sack watching it jiggle.

"I wonder what happened. I thought I mixed everything ri-" She was interrupted by a loud boom and a cloud of white bubbles filling the air. The entire street was obstructed by the suds as it cascaded outwards.

"There we go!" Pinkie started cracking up as she stepped out of the cloud, a thick white beard of bubbles on her face. Rainbow dash stumbled out after her, shaking the bubbles out of her fur and mirroring her laughter.

"Okay, I gotta admit, I did not see that coming." Said Rainbow dash brushing the last bit of froth from her mane.

"Me either! I was supposed to be cotton candy, but bubbles works too." Pinkie said, shaking her head and sending the bubbles up into the air.

"Thanks for showing me, I always love a good prank." Rainbow dash looked back at the mass of suds, hearing the confusion of ponies trying to find their way out.

"Well with the sour look on your face, how could I not try and make you smile. It's kinda my thing." Said pinkie putting on a pair of Groucho glasses.

"Look? What look?"

"The look. You know!"

"No, no I don't."

"Yeah you do."

"Pinkie, just tell me what look you're talking about." Rainbow dash slightly irked at her hyper friend.

"This one!" Pinkie stated mimicking what Rainbow dash had looked like with alarming accuracy. Fretting back and forth and biting her hoof.

"Oh... that." Rainbow dash cleared her throat.

"What was that all about anyways?" Pinkie asked sitting up in front of her.

"It was nothing, I was just..." She glanced to the side then back to Pinkie.

"Just what?" Pinkie cocked her head to the side.

"I was just stressed over something, it's not important. I'm cool." Rainbow dash trotted a few steps away.

"Oh, okay! Glad I could cheer you up!" Pinkie beamed brightly.

"Yeeeeah, anyway; if that's all, I kinda gotta go. Got weather duty and all." She said, flapping her wings and piking up off the ground.

"Aww so soon?" Pinkie looked somewhat disappointed, but not to bothered by it.

"Sorry Pinkie, I got a job to do." She shrugged as she slowly ascended up into the air.

"Okie-dokie-loki! See you later!" Pinkie waved up to her and started hopping down the path. Rainbow dash turned and started flying up into the sky towards the clouds. She shook her head trying to focus on the task at hand and not her previous mistake. She pushed each cloud through the air and towards the fields outside of town as she thought to herself. Wait... did she say mistake? Was it a mistake? They'd been together for months yes, but was she just entranced by that wonderful scent, or did she really like him? He wasn't even the same species as her, and was by no means good looking, but at the same time he was sweet and caring, and defiantly liked her. But he didn't quite trust her fully, heck she didn't even know his real name! She asked herself these questions dozens of times before, but every time they'd come up the same way. She'd forget about the questions and just let her actions speak for themselves.

Before she knew it, she'd cleared out all of the clouds around town and just laid on the massive pile of cloud looking up into the clear blue sky. She lie there wondering to herself. What is it about her that he liked anyways? From what he'd told her there weren't any ponies where he'd come from, and the two of them were so radically different. He was furless, his eyes were tiny, and stood on two hooves... feet. That's another thing, fingers and toes, how weird is that? I mean sure other animals have them, but that doesn't make it less weird. She thought he was weird when she first saw him, but he didn't seem to mind them at all.

What are humans exactly? He'd explained to them before that they were kind of like a mix between a monkey and a bear, but he took that back when Twilight started asking a bunch of questions. Any time Rainbow dash would ask he would go into a story about the history of where he was from which usually left her more confused than when she'd started. In fact at times she'd felt she'd had more questions about him than answers. And even weirder he usually had almost no questions for her! The whole thing left her with a headache.

By the time she'd found herself coming full circle it was almost noon, and she was on the verge of simply giving up and taking a nap. It's not like there's a surplus of humans just walking around that she could ask there was only... two. She suddenly remembered that she could always ask the captain about the humans, but shook her head, trying to forget the thought. There was no way, the man was more abrasive than the rough side of a sponge. He didn't like anyone, and even the ones he tolerated he didn't talk to. He was an antisocial ball of living callous... but on the other hand he was her only shot too.

With a long drawn out sigh she conceded to at least trying to get some information out of him. She started to pick herself up and stretch, flapping her wings slowly. She took off towards town, but came to an abrupt halt, realizing she had no idea where he would be, or where he might be, or where he even lived. Guess it's up to just searching for him the old fashioned way. She looked down onto the road flying over and scanning for him below.

She'd seen several large figures, but none were the odd Captain. So she decided to ask around a bit; maybe somebody else had seen him. She'd asked about a dozen ponies if they'd seen anything, but had come up empty... You'd think it would be easier to find a giant winged creature just walking about. Then she got an idea. She could ask Fluttershy, with all her little animal friends allover the place she'd be able to find him. Bolting her way down to the small shack she'd slowed just in time to stop short of the door, but as she raised her hoof to knock she heard a voice inside.

"Now now, there's no need for that. Come on, let's get you washed off." It was Fluttershy's voice, but who was she talking to?

"I can do it myself, you don't have to-"

"You don't worry about it. You've already done so much for me, it's the least I could do." Fluttershy was talking to... the Captain? Rainbow dash was not only bewildered, but shocked that she of all ponies wasn't scared of him.

"T-thank you, mam." Rainbow dash's jaw hung low. He was actually being nice? That was a first.

"You're very welcome. Would you like another drink?" She asked, an Rainbow dash couldn't simply sit back anymore. She knocked on the door.

"Coming." Called out Fluttershy. A second later she'd opened the door.

"Hey Flutters."

"Oh hello rainbow dash, how are you?"

"I'm good, I've been looking for the Captain everywhere though."

"The captain?" Fluttershy glanced to the side, where she was looking was obstructed by the door.

"O-oh umm... I'm afraid I haven't seen him." She said, further bewildering Rainbow dash.

"Really, are you sure? Cause I was sure that I'd heard him..."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help but-"

"It's alright let her in." Said the Captain from behind the door, stepping out from behind it.

"B-but you said-"

"I know, but I don't want you lying for me."

"What's going on here?" Rainbow dash walked inside, and he shut the door behind her.

"The Captain comes by here every day to feed Sam." Fluttershy said nodding to the eagle sitting on a perch nearby.

"You have a pet eagle?" She questioned and he'd nod.

"Yes, Sam here's probably the only thing that kept me sane for the past ten years." The eagle hopped off it's perch and landed on Fluttershy's hoof.

"That's actually how we met. When I found him he'd hurt one of his wittle feet, so I nursed him back to health." Said Fluttershy nuzzling his beak into her muzzle.

"And we met when I'd come looking for him." Said the Captain soon after.

"Sooo, does that make you two friends?" Asked Rainbow dash, and Fluttershy nodded hastily.

"Yes, we're friends." She cleared her throat. "He came by every day to visit Sam while he was getting better." She looked up at him with her patented brand of warm smile.

"But anyways... what was it you wanted? What could you have possibly been looking for me for?" He asked, changing the subject rather quickly.

"Oh right!" Rainbow dash flew up to eye level with him. "I was coming to ask you about... wherever you came from." And he looked inquisitively at her.

"What do you want to know?" He said as he crossed his arms.

"Really? You'll just tell me?" Rainbow dash was a bit taken back by how easily he gave in, especially given how standoffish he usually is around her.

"Yeah yeah, but you have to tell me why you want to know." He answered, and their's the catch.

"I just want to know more about where you guys come from, that's all." She said, and he took in a deep breath.

"Okay. So where do you want me to start?" He asked, opening his wings up slightly to curl them over his shoulders.

"Umm..." She thought for a second, trying to find the best question. "Alright, first, what are humans anyways?" She asked and the Captain smirked.

"Literally or philosophically?" He asked, and she opened her mouth for a second, but stopped to think.

"Both I guess?"

"Literally speaking humans are like the ponies of our world, but we've dominated the planet in a very different way. Where ponies are friendly by nature and naturally nonviolent, humans are just the opposite. We are specialized pursuit predators. Our history is very bloody." He said, getting a wide eyed look from both ponies in front of him.

"Philosophically however humans are extremely tenacious, creative, and durable. We've taken surviving hardship after hardship, and made it a staple of what it means to be human. When it comes to humans the best way to describe us is passionate, in both the good ways and the bad." Surprisingly he had quite a lot to say, but now Rainbow dash wondered, why it was he was so open now?

"Did that answer your question?" He asked, shaking her from her silence.

"Not really, but I guess that's the best answer I'm going to get." She shrugged.

"Next question?"

"What about where you're from?"

"America? It's a bit bigger than Equestria from what I gather. About three hundred million people, and we elect our leaders by voting for whoever we see fit for the job. It's got the world's largest military, which I was a part of, and we were pretty much in charge of keeping most of the world safe a lot of the time." It'd seemed he'd tried a bit harder to recall this time, but still managed.

"What about ponies, I know there weren't any where you're from, so what other creatures did you have?" She asked as she and Fluttershy sat next to each other.

"We had lot's of animals."

"No I mean, like things that talk."

"None."

"What?"

"None. There aren't any others. Humans are the only things smart enough to talk where we're from." He said flatly.

"You can't really be the only ones... right?" Fluttershy interjected.

"No we are. It's just humans and animals." He shrugged.

"And by the way, there are ponies where we're from, but not like the ponies here." The two ponies looked at eachother.

"We have ponies, cows, donkeys, and the like, but they're all grazing animals. None of them speak." Rainbow dash looked skeptical, but honestly there were crazier things the big guy had told her.

"You're joking right? I mean what would ponies be like if they couldn't talk?" She chuckled.

"Miniature beasts of burden." He answered with not even a hint of a smile.

"Dude, what's your deal?!" Rainbow dash glared at him, flying up just inches from his face. He always seemed to go out of his way to insult her for some reason.

"It's the truth." He seemed completely unfazed by her reaction.

"Are you trying to make me mad?!" She 'd flown close enough that he could smell her breath.

"You think I care?" He'd glared back at her.

"Rainbow dash is right." Said Fluttershy, catching both of their attention.

"But it's tr-"

"It doesn't matter if it's true, you shouldn't try to deliberately make people angry." Said Fluttershy, giving him an adorable angry look.

"I'm-... You're right. "He sighed dejectedly. "I'm sorry Rainbow dash. I shouldn't have antagonized you." He said respectfully. Rainbow dash looked more than shocked, she was completely aghast.

"N-no problem?" She wasn't sure how to respond.

"Much better." Said Fluttershy.

"How did you do that?" Asked Rainbow dash, landing in front of her.

"I believe you'll find he's very polite when you show him some patience. He just has a bit of a short temper." She smiled at him, and he turned his head away. Fluttershy flew up to him, put a hoof on his shoulder.

"He can be really sweet once you get to know him." She said, hugging around his neck, his face flushing bright red. More than ever before Rainbow dash was awestruck. Mouth hanging agape.

"Can we go back to asking questions now?" He asked, going back to his typical gloom.

"Um, yeah... what was I going to ask?" Her train of thought interrupted by the oddity in front of her, she couldn't remember exactly what she was going to ask next. So she decided to cut to the chase.

"Well... why the heck does the big guy like me?" She asked, and he turned to face her, arching a brow.

"What do you mean?" He asked, uncrossing his arms.

"Well if there aren't any other talking species where you're from, and especially if ponies are just animals where you're from... why would he like me?" She asked. The Captain and Fluttershy both looked at each other.

"Honestly? I have no idea." He shrugged. "At most, I could make a few guesses, but there's no way I could know."

"But you've still probably got the best guesses." She insisted.

"If it were anyone else I'd say it's a combination of loneliness, desperation, and abundance of options."

"But?"

"But this kid is... odd. He talks about everything but himself. Every time someone brings up a question about him, he'll answer quickly and change the subject. I don't want to say he's hiding something, but we've known him almost a year and we still don't know his name."

"Yeah, he does kind of keep to himself a lot." Rainbow dash said.

"Maybe he's just shy?" Asked Fluttershy.

"Could shyness keep you from telling someone your name for nearly a year?" The Captain asked rhetorically.

"Actually you might be surprised." Rainbow dash retorted, looking to Fluttershy.

"Rainbow dash, If you want to know more about him, you're his marefriend, if he's going to tell anyone it'd be you." Fluttershy said.

"You're probably right, but he's just been acting so weird lately." She said, catching the Captain's ear.

"Weird?" He asked.

"Yeah, kinda jumpy, kinda tense."

"Speaking of tense. I have to meet with Twilight today." He said, checking the time.

"Oh! Don't forget, tomorrow we are moving the turtles from the lake to the river." Fluttershy said as he walked to the door.

"I won't forget. Evening ladies." He said opening his wings out fully, an impressive thirty foot wingspan.

"Goodbye!" Waved Fluttershy, and Rainbow dash simply raised a hoof.

"I guess I'll be going too. I'm going to head home and wait for the big guy." Rainbow dash said flapping her wings slowly.

"I hope you find what you're looking for Rainbow dash." She said with a nod.

"Thanks, and good luck with your new coltfriend too." Said Rainbow dash forming a sly grin.

"Thanks I- wait... what?" Fluttershy stopped to think for a second before she understood, burying her face in her hooves. Rainbow dash chuckled as she flew off headed towards the big guy's house.

It didn't take long to get there but with the sun still high in the sky she had plenty of time before he came home. She stepped inside, and naturally his smell was in the air, drifting through the slight breeze as she closed the door behind her. He didn't have a very big place, i didn't have much in it. all of about four rooms and a ladder up to her house. He didn't even have very much furniture; a couple chairs a couch, and he didn't even have a bed.

Trotting over to the kitchen, she opened up the fridge to look inside. He had nothing really out of the ordinary besides a basket of strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whip cream. She was sure he wouldn't mind if she had a few. She brought them out into the living room, setting them on the coffee table. Tossing one into the air, she filled her mouth with whip cream and caught the strawberry in her teeth. After a couple more tosses, she looked over at a small bookshelf on his wall suddenly filled with curiosity.

She pulled out a couple to see what he was reading. Canterlot journal of medicine, Myths and legends of Equestria, Supernaturals, A couple history books and one unmarked book which Rainbow dash opened. It was a hand written diary by one Cordwainer Cobbler. She put the books back, none of the books he had were really all that interesting to her. She sat back on his couch and ate strawberries as she waited for him to come home. Needless to say she was bored, so she tried to entertain herself.

She went into his room, and laid down on the blanket where he slept, curling up in it and burying her face in his pillow. His scent was strongest right here, obviously because he spent so much time here. She bit her lip slightly as her body felt warmer and warmer, swishing her tail from side to side letting her thoughts run a bit wild. She heaved her chest in an out with each breath, a single hooves casually sliding down her body and resting on her inner thigh. It was then her eyes shot open and she hastily sat up, shaking her head, but failing to clear it.

She sat on his pillow, her forehooves both clacking together in front of her as she tried to think of a way to sate her boredom but her mind was filled with thoughts brought on by his scent she so wanted to entertain. Looking at the strawberries, she started eating again but more slowly, deliberately, as she tried to distract herself. She started spraying the whip cream onto the berry... then directly into her mouth... then onto her face... letting it drip down off her tongue a bit before she swallowed.

Quickly shaking her head again, she tried to think of a better distraction, and headed off into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror at the whip cream all over her face, and started washing it off in the sink. Splashing the cold water on her face helped her calm down a little. Grabbing a cloth off the floor, she picked it up and dried off her face. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked at the shower, the one he'd always use to clean up after a workout, and she'd started to heat up again.

It was then she looked down into her hoof at the cloth she was holding. It was a pair of his shorts, but none he'd ever seen him wear. They were very short, and had an elastic band around the waist. She'd wondered why he never wore them, or why he even had them if he didn't... but they were pretty soft. She stretched them with her hooves then thought for a moment. She flew up in the air and slid them on with a snap of the elastic. She was sure he wouldn't mind her trying them on. Looking into the mirror, the shorts came up just under her tail, making them fit a bit awkwardly, but they were still very comfortable.

She looked at her flank in the mirror and how well they actually fit her, they kind of looked good on her even if they didn't fit perfectly. She imagined him chuckling and telling her she looked cute like he always did, and couldn't stifle a grin. She reached back garbing at the waistband and slid them down, feeling a bit provocative as she watched herself in the mirror for some reason. Maybe that's why humans always wear cloths?

Kicking away the boxers, where they'd land back down onto the floor. She stepped out into his room again, and was hit by his scent much to her chagrin, and trotted quickly back into his living room. She tried to shake her head clear, but failed yet again. Embarrassing thoughts filling her head, she jumped up onto his couch, rolling over to lay on her back and look up at the ceiling. Her eyes were heavy lidded as a bit of sweat formed on her brow. She almost didn't notice her hooves grazing her inner thighs. And then, right then, the front door quickly opened and shut, with the big guy standing there in front of her.

"Oh! Umm. Hey big guy... Back so soon?" She gulped, seeing him standing, staring wide eyed at her in her, and turning from bright blue all over to a dark red. She hadn't expected him to see her like this.