Spice in the water

The two of them both sat in a long strained silence, with the both of them stunned by the unfortunate timing.One might think they'd turned to stone if it weren't for the occasional fidgeting. It was almost a full two minutes before the silence was broken.

"Uhh... I could come back later..." He'd cleared his throat, looking away from her.

"Oh! No! It's not what it looks like!" She quickly sat up fleetly, moving her hooves behind her, before looking down and immediately bringing her hooves back in front of her.

"Umm o-okay... I trust you." He gulped, walking into the kitchen. There was another long silence as he opened the refrigerator.

"Where are my strawberries?" He asked himself aloud.

"Oh, they're in your room." She answered happy to change the subject.

"My room?" He walked out past her and toward his room with her following behind him. As he walked inside he saw the strawberries strewn about and the small white flecks of whip cream dotting the mat. Rainbow dash was a bit of a messy eater.

"Huh..." He almost questioned it, but decided it was best he didn't.

"This. This isn't what it looks like either." She came up beside him and he nodded.

"It looks like you got whip cream all over my bed." He said.

"Oh, then it's exactly what it looks like." She said and he picked up a strawberry, popping it into his mouth.

"You... are surprisingly okay with this. " She trotted up behind him as he flipped the mat over, and laid down the covers.

"It's no big deal, it's just cream, it'll wash out." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Is something wrong?" She'd wondered if she'd crossed some sort of line.

"What? No, nothing's wrong. Why would you think that?"

"I mean usually we'd start teasing each other about something like this."

"It's nothing really. I'm fine." He said, seeing the concern in her eyes.

"Come here." He motioned her over and she stepped closer. "I've just been a bit off my game today, that's all."

"So this really doesn't bother you?" She asked, sitting in his lap.

"Well I wouldn't say that." He scratched his chin, and she gave him a look of shock. "Kidding, kidding." She glared up at him before kissing his cheek.

"Ha ha, very funny." She said rolling her eyes. He responded by hugging her tightly, as they both snickered.

"You know, when you walked through that door, I thought you were going to throw up." She glanced up at him.

"I wasn't about to throw up. I was about to have a heat stroke if anything." He smirked.

"You look pretty good now for someone with heat stroke." She elbowed his side.

"And you look pretty cool for someone who was just mas-" She elbowed him harder. There was a long quiet moment, but much less awkward this time. He held her into his chest and she cuddled up into his lap, her tail brushing across his stomach. The dock rubbed at his stomach tickling him slightly; he tried to keep from laughing by shifting under her, but her tail started swishing past his face, and he realized she was doing it on purpose.

He retaliated by bringing his arm around her back, and grabbing her tail by the dock, rubbing it with his thumb. She let out a squeak in surprise, wiggling in his lap and feigning trying to free herself. He knew how sensitive her tail was and if she was going to tease him, he'd get her back. After a second or two she stood up, a shiver running up her spine as she looked back at him. They exchanged challenging looks with a grin.

"You know this means war." She said casually slapping him in the face with her tail.

"Funny, I thought that it meant love." He fired the first shot, hitting a weak spot with his preemptive strike. It was a dirty move, but all's fair apparently. Turning to face him, she pushed on his chest, "forcing" him to lay down and sat on his stomach. He'd watch as she grabbed a strawberry in her teeth and lower it down to him. He opened his mouth to take the strawberry as he expected she was going for, but she ambushed him with a kiss instead.

Breaking from the kiss seconds later, he was left with the strawberry. She looked down at him with a smug superior look, and he acknowledged that he may have underestimated her. However he still had a couple tricks up his nonexistent sleeves. He'd reach around her back gently running a finger down between her wings, and she'd instinctively jumped straight up in the air.

"Hey no fair!" She poked his nose, he looked up at her returning her previous smugness.

"Oh so we're being fair now?" He asked sitting up and grabbing strawberry.

"Not anymore!" She said swiping up the whip cream. The two of them seemed evenly matched. Rainbow dash with her skill in the art of teasing and taunting, and the big guy with natural aroma and his willingness to rely on dirty tricks. Rainbow dash shook up the can of whip cream and sprayed it at him, covering his face and neck. He lurched back, to able to react in time.

"And that helped you how?" He chuckled, wiping some stray cream away from his eye.

"Oops, let me get that for you." She said with mock guilt as she flew around behind him, licking the cream from his neck. He shivered, his hair standing on end. As she raised her muzzle to his cheek, licking the cream away slowly, he could hear her short breaths sniffing at his hair. With that he'd felt the knot in his stomach return. He felt the lapping at his cheek pulling up the corners of his mouth, but the sound of sniffing tugging them back down.

"M-maybe... we should stop." He said, but she remained skeptical, expecting an ambush.

"What? You giving up so easily?" She started, catching a gimps of the forlorn expression. "Hey, why the long face big guy?" She tried to shoo away the heavy air.

"I kinda-" he paused, looking back at her. "Have you ever felt like... I was taking advantage of you?"

"Dude, if someone's being taken advantage of it's you." She punched him in the arm.

"Seriously though." He insisted and she picked up that this might be a bit more serious of a question.

"What are you talking about?" She'd wrapped her arms around his neck in an attempt to comfort him, her chest had pressed into his back and she could feel his heart beating just barely out of tune with hers. The air grew heavy around them but she couldn't help but smile.

"The whole olfactory situation I'm in." He'd run his fingers through his hair, wiping away the lingering sweat resting on his forehead.

"The old factory situation?" Her tail had slowed it's swaying to a near stop.

"The way I smell." He clarified.

"Oooh, why didn't you say so?" She rubbed a hoof into the top of his head, rustling his hair in all directions.

"Doesn't it bother you?" The big guy asked, he'd worried about how it must make her feel, and confronting her about it certainly felt uncomfortable but he'd hate to find out he'd been a burden to her.

"What? No, in case you hadn't heard, I am Rainbow dash. It'll take more than a little funky air to bother me." She'd said, whether it's true or not he should have expected that response.

"But of course, how could I be so foolish." He stroked her ego.

"I know, I know, it's hard to wrap your head around all this awesomeness." She'd bask in how he'd feed her pride. He'd just chortle in response returning to a more relaxed demeanor.

"You really are too cute you know that?" He'd look back at her, but she'd shoved his face with a hoof. A knock at the front door broke the quiet of the room, and made him jump a little.

"I'll get it." He jumped up to his feet.

"Get what?" She asked.

"The door. You didn't hear the knock?" He asked and she shook her head. He shrugged, not thinking anything of it. He'd made his way to the door with Rainbow dash close behind him. He'd pulled it open, and started to speak, but was greeted with the wind.

"Umm... big guy? Are you okay?" Rainbow dash had started to pick up on the odd tension in the air.

"Nah, I'm fine. Guess I just... misheard." He said, looking from left to right, checking just to make sure there was no one there.

"Are you sure? You seem kinda jumpy." She said as he shut the door, scratching at the top of his head.

"I'm fine, it was just a mistake. I-" There was another knock on the door. For a moment he felt his heart pounding harder, seeing how Rainbow dash hadn't reacted to it at all. Was he actually hearing things? Looking back he wasn't surprised, but now faced with reality he was forced to see it. Auditory hallucinations aren't the worst thing to deal with, or so he told himself. Just stay calm, and try to keep from stressing out Rainbow dash.

"- I just need to get some sleep is all. I've had a long day." He'd put on a decent look of dismissal, but Rainbow dash had been around him enough to know he was faking it. The air growing heavier, she decided not to peruse it. The big guy was a thing of mystery. At that thought she'd remembered, after all the muddled confusion she'd forgotten why she was here in the fist place, and now would be the perfect time to change the subject.

"You know... Big guy... About this morning." She choked out the words, but you couldn't hear it in her voice, in fact she'd feigned calmness better than he had.

"This morning?" He tried to recall, but the sound of knocking distracted him.

"Yeah, the thing I said."

"Thing? What thing?"
Knock Knock Knock

"You know, the thing."

"We talked a lot this morning, you'll have to narrow it down."
Knock Knock Knock

"When I said... I love you."

"When you said what?"
Knock Knock Knock

"When I said I love you."

"You're talking really quiet I can't-"

"When I said I love you stupid!" The previously blue pony was now red in the face with either frustration, embarrassment or both. The big guy on the other hand was too stunned to be embarrassed. As much time as they'd spent together he hadn't expected her to be the first to say the three infamous words. He'd planned on being the first to say them many times, but always put it off in favor of another nickname. She just never seemed like the type to say it at all.

"Oh. That thing. Uh..." He paused, the knocking interrupting his thoughts, and even if they weren't he would be unsure how to continue. "What about it?"

"What about it?" She echoed in an offputt manor.

"No, no I mean, what did you want to say about it?" He stumbled over his words trying to correct himself through the noise in his head.

"I wanted to hear what you have to say about it."
Knock Knock Knock

"What I have to say?"

"Yes! What you have to say!"
Knock Knock Knock

"Well I mean, it's really unexpected."

"And?"
Knock Knock Knock

"And I'm really at a loss for words."

"And?"
Knock Knock Knock

"And nothing. At a loss for words means I don't know what to say."

"I know what it means! Is there really nothing you want to say to me?"
Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock

The moment seemed to last forever, his heart was pounding loud enough that he genuinely wondered whether or not she could hear it. As much as he tried to rack his brain for the answer she was looking for every time he got close there was another loud knock at the door. Usually a pretty patient guy, he'd grown more irritated as it eluded him, like trying to catch fish with his bare hands.

Nevertheless to Rainbow dash, he'd simply been standing in silence. She felt her own heart pounding in her chest as she awaited a response, the wait itself clawing at her insides. What was taking him so long to answer? He must know what she wants him to say, but he'd just standing there. Could he just be embarrassed, like she was? No, his face said he was taking this very seriously. Maybe he had a problem with her saying it first? No, he's a laid back guy, he wouldn't care about something like that, would he?

The knocking grew louder, diverting yet more of his attention. Why was it now of all times that he had to deal with this? Yes he was a little stressed out, but he certainly he wasn't crazy. So why now of all times would he start hearing things? His breath was a bit more labored, and his hand was resting on the doorknob behind him. He could see the look of growing resentment in Rainbow dash's eyes as he tried so hard to focus.

"You want to hurt her?" whispered a voice in the back of his head.

"No." He instinctively answered aloud.

"No?" Rainbow dash looked up at him a twinge of pain in her voice.

"Wait, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. You don't have to say anything." She said flapping her wings and darting toward the window before he could say a word. Suddenly disillusioned with him she flew up into her house, and planting her face straight into her pillow.

"Rainbow dash wait!" He'd lunged after her to late, and failed to grab her hoof before she disappeared. Following to the window, he leaned out in time to see her tail enter through her own window. The knocking had only grown louder as time passed, and his patience had run out. Tired of hearing that incessant knocking, he'd walk resolutely to said door and throw it open. He underestimated his strength, the door hits the wall with a loud crack, but he didn't care right now.

"Rainbow dash?" He called out to her from below, looking up at the cloud. He wasn't quite sure what to say, a quick wit wasn't really one of his virtues, but he still had to try, and with that knocking gone he might have a chance.

"Rainbow dash. Please come out and talk to me." He looked up at the window she'd flown into but there were no signs of movement inside. She buried her face into her bed, grumbling to herself quietly. She knew she'd give him plenty of time to talk, how could he not know what she wanted. He could't really be that stupid, and she knew he wasn't insensitive, maybe he just really doesn't...

"Rainbow dash? Rainbow dash!" His calls grew gradually more frustrated, with himself, with her, and this whole situation. He thought about just climbing up there and talking to her, but whatever would come out of his mouth and hers was likely to be pretty harsh at this rate. So he, being finally able to think decided to do just that. Think. What is it that she wants right now?

"She wants you dead." The whispers in his ear almost chuckled the words, but he ignored them trying to think. He recalled the conversation in order, and pieced it together pretty quickly.

"I'm a moron." He punched himself squarely in the forehead. She'd obviously wanted him to say it back, but he didn't say it. His blood started to boil at the whole situation.

"This is all her fault." The whispers said, but he'd shook his head. It wasn't her fault it was his, he should have tried harder, he should have known.

"You want to tear your own eyes out." That was one he almost agreed with. The cold air stung his arms as the wind blew across them, when he noticed the sun getting close to setting. His fist clenched tightly, the heat in his skin fighting off the cold.

"Foolish." The whispers sounded like they were coming from just behind him. He could almost feel breath on the back of his neck, but he knew there was nothing there.

"Pathetic." He'd turn his eyes down toward his feet as the wind died down. As he turned away from the house, he'd look down at his hand. He was squeezing his fist so tight his fingernails were breaking through his callused skin.

"Monster." The whispers had struck a cord, and he lashed out, kicking a rock and sending it flying off into the distance. It felt surprisingly good to watch it sail through the air, but not enough to calm him. With that it crossed his mind as less than a thought than a feeling that it would be best to vent a little.

He sprinted off at full speed, and though he hadn't run full speed in a while it felt like he was faster than ever. As he ran across a large rock, about the size of his head, he'd grab it off the ground and toss it as far as he could. It sailed through the air until it crossed the treeline and out of sight. He followed after it, leaping and scaling a tree like it was an uphill walk. Once he'd kept to a sturdy branch he would leap from tree to tree, traversing the wood like the Disney version of Tarzan.

It felt good to vent, but despite all his thrashing and flailing about, he couldn't rid himself of this dread that filled his mind. He'd land in a small outcropping and catch his breath, and feeling his heart pumping blood through his entire body. He'd catch his eye onto a random tree, and clenched his fist, stepping in to burrow his knuckles into the bark. At the first weak layer of bark fell away the hard wood beneath was exposed, and his knuckles ached.

"Weak." The words chuckled in the back of his mind, taunting him, fanning his anger. He growled under his breath, beating his fists into the tree again and again pummeling the timber and scraping the skin off his knuckles. It shook and shivered with every strike, with each blow his ferocity grew. The tree groaned as he blindly swung his fists into it, he'd even turned a deaf ear to the sound of splintering and cracking, but one particularly fierce blow had left him staggering, as he'd put all his weight into it, and the tree had given way toppling in front of him.

He stood wide eyed as he regained his footing, looking down at the white wood stained red. His eyes followed down to his hands, seeing the blood from his battered knuckles, but he didn't feel any pain any more. He couldn't feel the cold of the wind, or the pumping of his heart, but instead, an unnatural calm. It was like the whole world had suddenly gone silent around him. That feeling, he didn't like it. It was hard to describe it, because it wasn't like something was there, but something was missing.

It was then he noticed the whispers were gone, and that uneasy quiet seeped away with the sounds of crickets surrounded him in the woods. As odd as it sounds, wave of relief filled him as his body started to ache again, the pain in his hands was particularly sharp, and the heat that emanated from his skin was being slowly sapped by the air. The first thought that entered his head then was that he had to go see twilight tomorrow, the second was that he needed to talk to Rainbow dash, but he was suddenly very exhausted. He'd sit down at the stump of the tree, and toppled over into the soft grass, letting his eye lids grow heavy.

Darkness. He was surrounded by darkness in all directions. He started to open his mouth but his breath escaped into a mass of bubbles in front of him. Cupping his hands over his mouth, he started swimming upwards, but after a short while he'd wondered if it was upwards at all. All he could see was an inky black abyss. From the depths he heard a low rumble, that shook the water and vibrated inside his chest. Whatever had made the sound was big, impossibly big, he didn't want to see it. He tried to swim faster, but his limbs only grew heavier. He started to see movement in the darkness and froze.

If he wasn't holding his breath already he would be now. He'd seen only movements at first, but the creature either grew bolder, or had somehow found him in the dark. He had to move now, get away from this abomination of a creature. He started swimming in the opposite direction, but his shoulder had bumped into something rough and slimy. He recoiled at the touch, turning to see what it was. It looked like a stony wall covered with a viscus ooze, but that clearly wasn't the case as it retracted and revealed a luminous white orb the size of a building, a solitary black dot in the center. It was an eye. Panic shot through him as the massive orb lurked past him and into the void.

He frantically tried to pull himself into what he appeared to be upwards, desperately trying to escape from these horrors. The water shook again with the call from below, and daring to look down he saw the tendrils of some massive terror creeping up on him. He tried to escape, but the water resisted him like he was swimming in cement. As the coils gripped him, the air was squeezed out of him, and his lungs were filled with water as he was pulled down into the endless black.

He awoke with a gasp, sitting up sharply, and gripping his chest. Glad to feel his breath again, he didn't even care how much his hand stung. His nightmares had been getting worse for a while, but usually he didn't care because he couldn't remember them, but these nightmare were more vivid than they used to be. He'd remember them with stark clarity.

Looking around and seeing the trees and grass, he'd remember that he had slept outside. He rose to his feet, brushing the dirt away when he took a whiff of himself and recoiled slightly. He was excessively sweaty, and stunk to high heaven. He had to get home and take a shower, badly. He had no idea how any ponies could like how he smelled, but it must smell different to them. He's heard on more than one occasion where they said he smelled sweet, but Twilight had described it as an odorless pheromone. Confusing as it was to him, he usually doesn't give it much thought, but he'd prefer to think about the science of stink then how stupid he was.

He started walking back down his path of destruction, seeing the broken limbs and torn bark, making it easy to follow back. He was actually surprised at how much ground he'd covered in the span of a minute at most. It took him about ten minutes to walk back, seeing his house in the distance. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that an empty stomach wasn't fun to hike on early in the morning. He almost wanted to run home, but that would probably be short sighted.

He filled the time walking home with plans for the day, shower, eat, talk to Twilight, check jobs for the day, and talk with... Rainbow dash. He looked up at the cloud above his house and shook his head, trying not to think about how he'd messed up. Instead he tried to think about how he'd fix it.

He tried to open his door, but his hand slid off the handle. It was damp from the morning, so he'd wipe it off on his shirt, only then noticing the blood from his knuckles had stained the fabric. He opened the door, into his living room, illuminated only with light through the open window. He passed through, and into his bedroom, the only light inside being that eking in through the cracks in the closed window. He guided himself to the bathroom, and stepped slowly inside, trying not to stub his toes on anything. He turned on the light, closing the door and shedding the bloody shirt.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he'd really needed to shave again... He also had blood on his face. He'd gotten blood on just about everything apparently. Odd, cause he wasn't bleeding all that much. He'd pull off his shoes, and untie his sash before starting the water for the shower, letting it get nice and warm. Finally getting out of his pants, he'd step into the shower with a long drawn out sigh of relief. All the dirt, grime, and sweat melted away with the comforting touch of warm water on his flesh.

For a good long while he'd just stood there standing in the hot water, until actually picking up a bar of soap. Or rather a bar of shampoo, since ponies were covered in fur. He'd taken a deliberately long time to wash himself clean, only actually stepping out once he'd run out of hot water. He grabbed a towel and dried himself offhandedly, shaking his head to dry his hair. It would poof out into a fluffy mess, and he'd give it a few more shakes to get it to lay down. He'd grab his old barber's razor and cut away the scraggly beard, as carefully as he could. His hands weren't very steady at all, the stinging in his knuckles made him shake just enough to make him worry, but not enough to make him actually mess up.

He stopped for a moment to look at his face, clean shaven, but downcast. He'd told himself just to move on, to try and solve the problem instead of dwelling on it, but that wasn't the face of someone who had moved on. He ran a hand over his face, stepping out of the bathroom, tired of looking at himself. He stepped out into his room, the initial cold air on his bare skin made him regret not bringing his clothes into the bathroom with him.

Cracking a window to let the light in, he searched his drawer for his clothes, picking them out and setting them onto the ground. The window creaked open behind him, the wind blowing in and chilling his back, encouraging him to hurry up and get dressed. The window creaked again and he glanced back at it, seeing it blown open from the wind. Walking over to the window to close it enough to stop the wind, he'd stopped just short, hearing the breathing from just outside. His initial feeling was that of confusion, but quickly turned to one of lost patience.

He stepped up to the window, simply waiting for his little peeping tom to poke their head out. He wanted to hear what they had to say for themselves. He could have just leaned out the window and grabbed them, but he felt they would be less likely to run if they realized the'd been caught themselves. He wasn't even sure who in Ponyville even fit the M.O. of a peeping Tom, but luckily the window came up to his torso, so he could stand there without being seen himself. After about a minute, he saw a pair of ears poke up from behind the windowsill, and he was honestly not expecting what he found.