I slid open the door to my backyard, whistling happily as my dog ran out with me, tail wagging and tongue sticking out. I chuckled as she grabbed her toy and tossed it in the air with her mouth, only to catch it again while I kept moving towards the pool-house at the back of the yard. As I reached the pool-house, I opened a small metal box. Inside of said box, there was a switch, one which I flicked in an instant. As soon as I did, a small humming sound emerged from behind me as the electric cover of the pool began sliding off. It was a hot summer day, meaning that it was one of the best times to go swimming. However, it was also nearing the end of the last week free from school. Not that I mind, really. I'm not one for succeeding in school, but going to it is when I see most of my friends, whereas outside of school I only see two or three of them regularly to have a drink.
As the pool cover drew back, I went back to the house and walked through the open door, ending up in the kitchen. On the kitchen table I saw a folded up towel, my iPod and a glass filled with a glistening amber liquid mixed with some orange juice. I threw the towel under my arm, grabbed the drink with my right hand and the iPod with my left. I hummed a small song as I walked back out the door and made my way to a beach chair next to the pool. I deftly tossed the towel onto the chair, laid the glass on the small table next to the chair and turned the iPod on. Instantly the sound of a guitar being strummed flared from the small speaker, making me smile. With a sigh, I laid down on the chair and closed my eyes, bobbing my head up and down to the beat of the music while the singer started up.
Poor guy that man John Thomas/
His woman truly was a devil/
She wasn't all that honest/
She tore him down on every level/
Such was my life. Sitting around on my ass, barely coasting by in life, content just to have a drink and listen to music. And occasionally some other stuff, but that's neither here nor there. As my dog ran around carrying her toy, I took a sip out of the glass, shivering as the freezing beverage counteracted the heat of summer. As the song continued I get more comfortable in my seat, deciding to listen to the rest of the song before I go for my swim. As the song neared it's end, I finished what was left of my drink and placed the glass on the table again. As I pulled my hand back, I grabbed my iPod and turned the volume up. The song started up as I get off of the chair and reached to take off my shirt.
Suddenly, I heard a scream come out of nowhere, freezing me as I knew it wasn't coming from the iPod. Then I smirked dumbly, knowing that the kids on the street were probably playing, trying to be as loud as they can be. But as the scream continued and grew louder, I began to feel that the scream I was hearing was one of fear. I got off my chair and walked to the fence to look through the small opening on the door that is at side of the house, wondering if the noise was coming from the street. As I got close to the door, I realized that the scream wasn't coming from the street. A splash erupted from the pool behind me, causing me to whip my head around to look for the disturbance. Without thinking I sprinted next to the pool and looked down to see a girl quickly sinking to the bottom, not moving. Without thinking again, I jumped into the pool with my clothes on and quickly swam to the bottom and grabbed the girl by the arm to pull her up.
As soon as I broke the surface of the water, I pulled her head out of the water and made my way to the shallow area in the water. I climbed the steps feverishly, and dragged the girl out of the pool and onto one of the other chairs where I laid her down so I could inspect her. The first thing I noticed was the fact that she was naked, catching me off-guard, as if a chick falling from the sky was believable in comparison. I shook my head, knowing this wasn't the time, and then noticed that she was breathing, but only in small ragged breaths.
Why is she naked? I thought with a raised brow. I then look at her face and instantly note how the girl has a small, pointed chin and thick eyelashes. But the thing that stood out most about her was her hair. It was multicolored, making her hair look like a rainbow. Her hair was long and draped by her side, ending next to her shoulders, sending a strange feeling down my spine. Ignoring it, I looked to my left, and then to my right. I looked at her again.
Why is she naked? I thought again, this time a bit more scared than interested. Being paranoid, my mind began to wonder if she was almost murdered and dumped off of a plane. Glancing upwards, I failed to see any plane in the sky. Glancing back down I saw a fist.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, fuck, ow." I whimpered as I fell to the ground, grabbing my nose to stem the flow of blood that was gushing out of it. Once I did that, I looked up to see the girl standing up, legs totally shaking, face totally angry and still totally naked. Ignoring her nudity, deciding now to focus on why she chose to hit me, I rose to my feet and glared at her. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"You can talk?" She asked as she took a fearful step back. Her eyes were wide now, as if she hadn't expected I could speak.
"Of course I can talk! Where the hell did you think you were? France?" I snapped, causing her to take another step back.
"W-what are you?" She asked slowly, eyes narrowing to harsh slits. She didn't trust me. She, the woman who just punched me in my face, can't trust me, a guy that just saved her from drowning.
"I'm pissed off, that's what I am!" I replied, making sure the frustration was clear in my voice. I quickly took my shirt off and put my face in it, rubbing the blood away. "Again, what did you do that for?"
"What did I do what for?"
"Hit me in the fucking face!" I yelled, then regretted it as the thought of her taking that as a request entered my mind.
"I thought you were a monster and you were going to kill me or something." She said quietly, hands still clenched up into fists. She realized this too, as she looked down at her hands and her two shivering legs. With a quick yelp of surprise, she stumbled backwards and splashed in the pool again.
Throwing my shirt that was wet with water as well as blood to the ground, I dove in again and put my arm around her waist, pulling her to the side of the pool as she thrashed about wildly. "Calm your shit and climb out of the pool."
She nodded firmly and clambered out of the pool while I hoisted myself up next to her, making sure she didn't fall in. Once we were out, I ran to the pool-house and took out two towels. I rubbed my head with the first towel and looked at it once my face was dry. My nose was still bleeding a bit, but it seemed to be slowing down. I then wrapped the towel around my midsection and threw the other towel at her. She stared at her hands and flexed the fingers awkwardly, giving me the impression that she... wasn't from... around... here. Her rainbow hair. Her in-your-face attitude. That left hook.
No. No, please no. I thought as she grabbed the towel and dried her hair, which now seemed to be completely natural and not-dyed. My dog was now next to the girl, sniffing her hair as she proceeded to ignore the dog and dry her body. "Uh, hey, um."
"Yeah?" She asked as she wrapped the towel around her, covering her up nicely. I continued staring at her, so she coughed and waved her hand in front of me. "I said yeah."
"How did you get here?" I asked stupidly, not sure what to ask her.
"I fell from the sky, duh." She rolled her eyes as if that was a good answer.
"Do you remember anything before that?"
"Well, yeah..." She grunted as she gave my dog a small, reluctant rub on the head in hopes of getting it to give her some room. "I was just talking to my friends, when my friend wanted me to help her with a little experiment. I mean, she read it in a book and said she was sure it would work, and hey, it did work."
"What was the experiment? What was your friends name?" I asked firmly, but she simply raised her brow at me. "What's your name?'
"My friend's name is Twilight and she found out how to travel across dimensions. The experiment was to see if it worked on me. My name is Rainbow Dash and-" She stopped mid-sentence and adorned a look of confusion as I backed away from her, wanting nothing to do with this. "You alright? You look sick."
"Yeah, that's one way to put it..." I sputtered, causing an awkward silence to form between the both of us. Even though I felt as if my were going to explode out the side of my head, I managed to flash a quick, sickly smile her way. "Don't worry about me."
"Alright." She nodded and bobbed her head up and down for a few minutes while she waited for me to speak again. Believing me to be shy, an idiot, or both, she decided to break the ice some more. "Are you going to tell me your name?"
"It's Jonathan." I said quietly. "Or Jon for short."
"That's a strange name." She noted instantly.
"So is yours."
"No it isn't." She retorted, but not angrily.
I sighed. "So you said your friend Twilight sent you here with a spell to cross dimensions?"
"Yeah, I did. So what?"
"Nothing, just trying to make sure I got that right." I sighed again.
"Listen, sorry about hitting you in the face." She said, not willing to let there be any more silences.
"It's alright. So when is Twilight coming to get you back?"
"I dunno, probably soon." She shrugged, giving me the impression that this little experiment wasn't planned that far.
"Right." I smirked. "You seem to be taking the whole 'being in another dimension' thing pretty well."
"Yeah, I knew Twilight knew what she was doing, all I have to do is wait for her to bring me back." She shrugged nonchalantly, but then her stomach made a large growling sound. "Hey, you got any food around here?"
"Yeah." I smiled thinly, reaching down to help her up. She smiled back and grabbed my hand. Once she was off the floor, I pointed towards the door and whistled sharply. My dog's ears instantly perked up and she sprinted towards the house and began scratching on the door. "Good dog, Gaia."
"Oof." I heard an apparent Rainbow Dash grunt as she fell to the ground. I looked back and stifled a laugh as she began to get off the ground. "Shut it. I might of forgot to mention this, but I don't really know how to walk on two legs like you."
"Right, sorry." I said, quickly going to her side. After I helped her up, I walked next to her to make sure she didn't fall down again. Once we got to the house I pushed open the door and Gaia went straight into the kitchen to wait for her treat. I looked at the chair nearest to the door and pointed at it. "Wait there."
"Why?" She asked, clearly wanting to explore the new world. "I'm probably only going to be here for a few minutes, I kinda wanna look around, y'know? And you kind of did offer me a snack..."
"Right." I nodded regretfully as I took a quick detour to the kitchen. I grabbed a dog-treat out of the bowl on the counter and tossed it into the air, which my dog grabbed mid-flight. I then pulled open the fridge and stared into it, feeling woozy at the sight of the food. "I have to be dreaming. Or having a nightmare. Or something."
"Mind hurrying it up over there?" She asked quite snappishly. "Twilight promised me some grub after the experiment was done, not before. And I sorta skipped breakfast."
"Uh-huh." I muttered quickly, grabbing a packet of ham from the fridge. As I laid it on the counter, I looked over to Rainbow Dash who sat impatiently, then back to the ham. "So you said your name was Rainbow Dash, huh?"
"Yup. I was a little surprised you hadn't heard of me, but then I remembered this is a different dimension so it wouldn't really have made any sense if you heard of me." The irony in her statement, of course, was that I did know who she was, what she was and who her friends were. The most ironic thing of all was that I kind of didn't like her. And by kind of, I mean I really don't like her.
"Uh-huh." I repeated as I grabbed the ham and put it back in the fridge. Not that I was really worried about feeding her ham, but there were only a few slices left and I'd be damned if I was going to give her any. I then closed the fridge and walked up to the corner cupboard of the kitchen, where I took out a jar of jam, some butter and some bread. I pulled out a knife from the drawer and sloppily throw the jam and butter onto the bread. I then took out a plate and tossed the sandwich on it. Feeling my legs go all wobbly, I placed the plate on the counter in front of me so I could regain my balance. I had to be dreaming. There was no way she could be here unless it was just a bad dream.
"Uhh, you okay over there? You look kinda sick." She said as she wiped some stray strands of hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I grumbled, snatching the plate. I walked up to her and held out the tray, which she quickly grabbed and stuffed the sandwich into her mouth. By her small smile, I could tell that she didn't hate it, so I didn't have to worry about her yelling at me for that. I then looked at her towel, which was drenched after absorbing nearly all the water off of her. "Mind waiting here for a sec? I need to grab something out of my room."
"Alright, but I'm not going to leave a note if I'm gone before you come back." She said with an odd mixture of seriousness and sarcasm.
I took a quick right as I walked out of the kitchen and ran straight towards the stairs, which I promptly climbed. Once at the top, I went to my right and pulled the door closest to me open. I glanced to my right and saw a set of drawers sitting next to the door. Opening the top one up, I saw a small black cat looking up at me, eyes filled with surprise.
"For fu- Cleo, get out of my damn drawer." I growled, pulling a pair of boxers out from under her.
Cleo meowed and jumped out of the drawer, not liking having been awoken so rudely out of her favorite napping spot. I then pulled out another drawer with my left hand and grabbed a pair of baggy black jeans from it, while at the same time opening the bottom right drawer with my right foot, where I put my foot under a blue shirt and kicked upwards, sending the shirt flying in the air. I snagged the shirt as it began to fall and pulled the small ensemble close to my chest. I then closed the drawers with my back and headed down the stairs where I found Rainbow Dash to be standing up, holding onto the chair with her hand as she tried to rise up to the challenge of standing up on her back legs.
"Practicing walking on your legs?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah. I mean, I know I'm going to be gone soon, but hey, there's nothing I can't do." She chuckled edgily as she let go of the chair. "My friend Pinkie can walk on her back legs, so it can't be that hard."
She let out a small yelp as she fell back into the chair, to which I chuckle to myself.
"Here." I said as she glared at me for daring to have laughed at her.
"What is it?"
"Clothes. Put them on." I answered, turning around to go to the kitchen to grab a Tylenol.
"Why do I have to wear that?" She asked as she stared dumbly at it.
"Because in this world if you're seen naked you'll either be taken to jail or worse."
"That's stupid. I don't like wearing clothes." Rainbow Dash muttered, crossing her arms on her chest as I open the pantry.
"I don't like it either, but the law is the law." I said reasonably, trying not to smile as I threw one of the painkillers in my mouth, still staring in the pantry.
"But I'm not going to be here much longer anyways."
"Sorry, but my house, my rules."
"Ugh, fine." She grunted, ripping the towel off as I turned around to look at her. I yelped and covered my eyes at the sight. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just put the stuff on." I said, waving my free hand to usher her forward.
"Fine, whatever." She said, unsure of why I was acting this way. She grabbed the dark-blue shirt and awkwardly stuffed her head through the hole, making her groan in frustration.
"You alright?" I asked, assuming she was having trouble with it.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." She growled, clearly not wanting help. I open my fingers to make a small crack to look at her, only to see her sitting back in the chair, shirt on the wrong way, pants and boxers still on her lap. I nodded at them. With a roll of her eyes, she stood up and I closed the gap in my hand again as she slipped on the boxers and then the pants. With a huff, she looked at me and raised a brow. "So. Now what?"
"What do you mean?" I inquired, now lowering my hand.
"I mean now what?" She asked again, her strong, fuchsia-tinted eyes glaring impassively at me. "What is there to do around here while we wait for my friends to get me?"
"Uh, I don't know, really." I said, scratching the back of my head.
"Well don't you just sound like a bundle of fun." She grumbled sarcastically.
She better hope Twilight gets here soon, or we're going to have a real problem.
Chapter 1 - "Let the Games Begin"
For the past half an hour, we had been sitting in the living room, watching random programs on the television, trying to pass the time without any troubles. Rainbow Dash doesn't seem too phased by the idea of television, so she watched idly as I flicked through the channels. Noticing how there was nothing good on, I decided to just let a cartoon run.
"So this is what you do here?" She let out a loud yawn, making it all too clear she wasn't that impressed.
"Yup." I sighed as I turned the volume up.
"No offense, but this is kind of boring."
"Yeah, it kind of is." I agreed passively, tossing the remote next to me on the couch.
"So don't you think we should do something else?"
"I'm open to suggestions."
"Well..." She trailed off as she looked to the ceiling, trying to think of things to do. She glanced behind her and patted her back, which I assumed she was doing because she was going to suggest flying. Finally, she turned back to me and lifted a brow. "We could do something, I dunno, active?"
"There's a basketball net out front." I said, pointing to my left with my thumb while I continued looking at the television.
"Oh? We have that back home." She said with a smirk as she looked towards the front door. "I never really played it though. What are the rules?"
"Well it's not exactly a court, so there aren't really any rules. All you really do is throw a ball through a hoop."
"Sounds simple enough." She nodded, then stood up, keeping a hand on the couch just in case. As she began to slowly walk towards the door, she looked over at me, wondering why I was still sitting down. "Well? Come on, let's go."
"No thanks, I'll stay in here. The ball is right under the net."
"You're not coming?"
"Nope."
"Why not?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"Because I'm fat."
"You're not fat. I mean, at least you don't look fat." She stopped and began to rub her chin, now looking me over again. "Are you fat for a... whatever you are?"
"Human? And no, I'm actually twenty pounds underweight." I said honestly. "I'm just lazy."
"Then what were you doing outside before?"
"Well I was going to go for a swim, but I already did that when I saved you."
"For about ten seconds." She muttered in annoyance.
"You're right, and that's enough swimming for two days." I said, shooting her a small, sarcastic smile.
"Funny." She grumbled, taking a step towards the couch. "Come on, at least humor me a little. Twilight could be another few hours for all I know, and I know I don't want to just sit here and do nothing."
"Yeah, no." I shake my head. "You can sit here and watch TV with me, or you can go outside and be active."
"I love my naps as much as the next pony, so I know sitting around all day can be fun every once in a while, but you shouldn't do it every day. It's not healthy." She grumbled, lifting up her palm when she saw me open my mouth, interrupting me before I could speak. "And swimming for a few seconds isn't active."
"I know, I usually swim for longer, but you sort of interrupted that." I said, then smiled at her. "And I assumed you wouldn't want to go swimming again after what just happened, correct?"
"You got that right." She muttered, knowing I was trying to antagonize her. As I looked back at the TV, she sighed and sat back down on the couch. "How much longer do you think you're going to be watching this for?"
"No clue. Maybe until I get bored. More bored than I already am, I mean." I said, watching as she shifted in annoyance. Not wanting her to yell at me, I tossed the remote onto the table. "Alright, I'll play for a bit."
"Awesome." She smiled, instantly snapping off the couch.
I sighed and pushed myself off the couch and nodded at her. Rainbow Dash smiled and walked towards the door, itching to get outside. I then walked to the closet next to the entrance and pulled it open. I quickly sort through the massive pile of shoes and pull out my pair, along with a pair of my old running shoes. I toss the shoes by her feet and slip my shoes on. Without me asking, she slipped on the shoes and reached for the laces, only to pause when the fingers brushed against them. She continued staring at them for a few seconds until she shrugged and clumsily tied the right shoe. It wasn’t perfect, but it did the job.
"You know how to tie shoes?" I asked with surprise as I tied mine.
"My friend AJ taught me how to tie all sorts of knots." She chuckled as she tied the second shoe.
"Oh, makes sense." I grunted dismissively, standing straight up. I quickly walk past the used-to-be pony and reached for the door, only to pause within a mere inch from the doorknob.
"What's wrong?" She asked as she walked behind me.
"Nothing." I said instantly, opening the door to walk out. I figured if I was going to do this without tipping her off that I know about her, I'd have to play the innocent card. "So, uh, tell me about your friends."
"Sure. What do you want to know?" Rainbow Dash asked as we walked out the door.
"I don't know. I guess just tell me the basics." I said, walking down the front steps. "Who's AJ? What is she like? And what about your other friends?"
"Well, Applejack is a pony I know whose family runs the local apple farm." She said thoughtfully as I went to the front of the house and grabbed the basketball from under the net. "I guess she's sort of competitive, but is really a cool pony once you get past the whole farming thing. Not as cool as me, obviously, but she's pretty high up there."
"Obviously." I grunted as I bounced the ball three times, then squeezed the ball, testing to make sure it wasn't deflated. Once I was sure it was good, I tossed the ball at the net. "And the one who used the spell to bring you here. Twilight?"
"Oh. Yeah, she's not really one of the cool ones. She's sort of the town's bookworm or whatever. Whenever she's not reading, she's out trying to help everypony. When I met her she didn't really seem like the kinda pony I'd hang out with, but she's grown on me." She laughed, both from what she said, and the fact that the ball had missed the net entirely. "She also has this baby dragon named Spike, and he's sort of her assistant. She actually hatched him from his egg with her magic, so I guess he's sort of her son too, in a way. Plus he has a crush on our friend Rarity. It's sort of cute, in a weird way."
"That's pretty cool. What's Rarity like?" I asked as I grabbed the ball off the ground, this time taking time to aim my shot before throwing it. This time the ball landed on the rim, rolled on it for a few seconds, and then fell in.
"Well, she's a unicorn, like Twilight, and, uh..." She grunted, thinking over her words as I walked under the net and grabbed the ball mid-bounce. "She's sort of a grade-A drama queen, if you know what I mean. If she gets a speck of dirt on her, you can bet she's gonna complain. I guess when she's out of dirt's way, she's alright. And she makes clothing for ponies, which can be sorta cool, in a girly-girl sorta way. Then there's my friend Fluttershy. She's one of my oldest, and probably closest friend. Me and her have been through a lot together. She's a pegasus, like me, so that automatically makes her great, but besides that she's kind, gentle, and can actually be pretty brave when stuff gets serious. She doesn't like the fast life as much as I do, but she'll be there to cheer me on, which makes her cool in her own right."
"Sounds like it." I nodded, tossing the ball again, this time sinking it.
"Pinkie Pie is... a strange one, to say the least." She grunted, wondering how to phrase it as I grabbed the ball again. "She's an earth pony, but for some reason it almost feels like she can use magic. And not the 'oh, she's good with nature' sort of magic, like Fluttershy, but in a way that she sort of just appears randomly, then disappears just as randomly a few seconds after. She's the friendliest one of us all, but that gets a little creepy sometimes, but boy, does she know how to throw a party. Pass me the ball?"
"Your friends sound pretty cool." I said as I obliged her request, tossing the ball to her.
"Yeah, but that's because they've been hanging around me." She said as she bounced the ball on the ground a few times with her right hand, testing it as well as herself. She must have felt that her coordination was good, so she began switching hands every couple of bounces.
"Jeez, you're a fast learner." I said with surprise as she clamped the ball with both hands to hold it in place.
"Heh, thanks. When I set out to do something, you can be sure I'll learn how to do it fast. Comes with the job of being one of the best athletes in Equestria." She smirked at me, then turned to the net and tossed the ball at it, scowling as it just barely missed, bouncing off the rim. "Darn."
I rub my shoulder to loosen it up as she jogs after the ball that rolled onto the grass next to the driveway. Picking it up, she came back with it in her hands, watching me as I finish a few rough stretches.
"So, you said there weren't any rules, right?" She asked.
"Well, the only one I can think of is that you can't hold the ball while you're moving. You have to keep dribbling it." I shrugged, not really worrying about anything. "You go on offense, I'll go on defense and try to take the ball from you. We'll go first to five points."
"Alright, sounds good to me." She nodded, making her way to the middle of the driveway.
I walked to the middle of the driveway, stopping between her and the net. She bounced the ball once more as I made my way behind behind her, arms spread out to grab the ball at any given opportunity. She looked behind her back and made eye contact me, so I nodded that I was ready. Instantly she turned around, lightly knocked me to the ground and tossed the ball.
"Hey, no fair." I muttered as the ball sunk into the net, earning her a point. "You can't just knock people over like that."
"What? You said there weren't any rules." She said innocently as the ball rolled down the driveway to her feet.
"Clever girl." I grunted as I got of the ground, smiling at her, knowing I couldn't really argue with her.
We walked back to our positions, but this time I had a different play-style in mine. If she wanted to knock me down, I'm sure as hell going to knock back. This time I nod at her as soon as she looked at me. Expecting her to use a strategy that had worked, I backed away from her, making her stumble as her elbow missed me by a foot. Her eyes shot open when she realized that I began darting towards her, so she quickly tossed the ball over my head. I clenched my hands into fists as the ball rolled around the rim and into the net.
"Come on, don't take it easy on me." She said, sticking her tongue out playfully. "You're just embarrassing yourself."
"Alright." I said under my breath, gritting my teeth, not liking how someone who has had a human body for an hour was already beating me. It was time to do something that I hated doing. I had to try. "Game on, bitch."
This time time I went to the middle of the driveway and nodded at her. Again, she went for the elbow check, which I quickly dodged. She then got ready to throw the ball into the air, but I slammed my hand down, knocking it out of her grip. As she readjusted to go for the ball, I grabbed it out from under her, spun around and tossed it. Much to my happiness, it bounced off the backboard and fell into the net.
"Nice one." She grunted reluctantly, but smiled at me as she grabbed the ball off the ground. "Good to know you're actually going to put up a fight."
I didn't reply to her remark, but walked back and got ready to knock it out of her hands again. This time when I nodded, she didn't try to knock me out of the way. Instead, as I jumped back to dodge her, she bounced the ball in her hands and ran to the side of the driveway. I instantly sprinted towards her as she threw the ball. As she began to smile, I jumped in the air and tapped the ball with the tip of my fingers, knocking it off course. As it missed the net, both Rainbow Dash and I ran towards the ball. As I got there, I grabbed the ball and spun around, readying my shot. But as I tossed the ball into the air, she jumped like I did, but rather than just ruin my shot, she grabbed the ball mid-flight and tossed it, all while still being in the air. The ball, much to my dismay, went right into the net.
"Three to one." She laughed. "You don't play this much, do you?"
"Actually it's the only sport I play." I said quietly, looking at the ground.
"Wow, that's... sad." Rainbow Dash said harshly. "I think you need more practice."
"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled.
"Don’t feel bad, I've walked on my hind legs before, so it’s not like this is the first time I've done it or anything. It was just a matter of finding my balance, and that doesn't really take that long, y’know?" She said, both in a mixture of sincerity and show-boatiness as she threw the ball from one hand to the other. "Only thing I have to get used to are these things."
I nodded firmly at her, remembering one of the times I saw her stand up on her back legs in the show. At least I felt a little less embarrassing about her beating me so far at that point.
"Now stop playing like a chump and get your head in the game." She added as soon as we went back into position.
I ignored her comment and nodded again. The next few rounds were relatively quick. I scored my third point by faking her out, then grabbing the ball while she was distracted. She scored her fourth point by jumping away from me and tossing it right into the net. Then I scored my fourth point to tie up the game by snagging the ball from her and pushing her back with enough force to make her stumble, but not enough to actually make her fall. As she grabbed the ball off the ground, she shot a small glare at me, and I returned it with one of my own as I walked to the center of the driveway. Even though it really was only a game of basketball, for some reason it was one of the most tense moments I’ve had in the past while. She nodded ever so slightly at me and gripped the ball as hard as she could, not willing to let it go. I nodded back. As soon as I did, she swung her elbow at me, this time with more ferocity than general playfulness. I jumped back, but slowly enough for her to hit my t-shirt. I shot my hand towards the ball, but she quickly jumped away from it. Then, to my surprise, she ran straight at me and shoulder checked me. With a grunt, I hit the ground hard, but spun onto my back, ignoring the pain, only to see Rainbow Dash nearing the net. Thinking quickly, I glance over to my house.
"Oh, there’s Twilight." I yelped, pointing a shaky finger to the door, even though she wasn't looking at me.
"Huh?" She asked, stopping in her tracks.
I then hauled myself to my feet as fast as I could and darted at her. Before she could turn around to realize what I was doing, I ripped the ball out of her hands and tossed it at the net.
"Hey!" She growled as the ball bounced off the rim a few times and fell into the net. "No fair, you totally cheated me out of that!"
"Yeah, too bad that aren't any rules." I smiled thinly.
The anger in her eyes flared, burning into me with more heat than the sun. The glare wasn't a semi-playful one, like the ones she gave me in the game. This one seemed to be genuine anger, and that made me feel uneasy, most likely due to the fact that I tend to shy away from violence. Her hand clenched up into a fist and I looked away from her, remembering that she had a pretty good swinging arm. I waited for three seconds before looking back at her to see her hand extended.
"Good game." She said as she let out a heavy breath, anger subsided.
"Yeah." I smirked sheepishly as I shook her hand, glad she didn't swing.
"I would have won if you hadn't cheated though, just so you know." She added as I pulled away from the shake.
"Hey, you cheated too, so it was pretty much anyone’s game." I said defensively. She really doesn't like losing.
"Hey, I may have gone on my hind legs before, but I’m still not completely used, and you've played this more than me."
"Now you’re just looking for excuses." I grunted, then grabbed the ball as it hit my feet and put it under the net. "Well, that was fun, I guess. Time to go back inside."
"You don't wanna play another game?"
"Nah, I don't really feel like it."
"Alright, I guess." She said reluctantly, following me back into the house.
I lead her back to the living room, where she laid down on the couch. Before I sat down, I flicked on the TV and began walking towards the kitchen.
"Are you thirsty?" I asked as I pulled open the fridge.
"A little bit." She replied.
I reached inside and grabbed a bottle of water, along with a bottle of beer, and then closed the door. Putting the water bottle on the counter, I grabbed the cap of the beer bottle and twisted it off, then did the same for the bottle of water. I grabbed both of the bottles and made my way back to the couch. I handed the bottle of water to her, and she instantly brought it to her mouth and chugged it within a few seconds. Once she finished, she watched as I took a chug of my bottle and set the bottle down, and then grabbed the laptop that resided on the same table.
"What's that?" She asked curiously.
"It's a beer. I didn't offer you one because it was the last one in the fridge." I said quietly as I turned the computer on and put the password in. I glanced up and noticed Rainbow Dash giving me a blank expression. "Oh, this is a laptop. It's sort of like a portable TV, but it can do other stuff."
"Sound neat. What can it do?"
"Lots of things. I can talk to my friends who live far away with ease, I can watch shows, listen to music, write, all sorts of stuff." I said as I opened a few things on the laptop, waiting for them to load up.
"Wow, sounds pretty cool. I bet Twilight would have a field day with that thing."
"Probably, but I think it would take her much longer than a day to figure everything out."
"You don't know Twilight." She grunted as she turned her head towards the television.
Glancing up, I noticed the television was still on the channel that showed cartoons. I leaned forward and grabbed the remote, switching the television to a sports channel. I settled back down as a few men lined up on a track, getting ready to race. Hopefully Rainbow Dash wouldn't ask me to play any more sports with her. My prayers seemed to had been heard, as we sat in silence for a few hours, her watching sports while I chatted with people over Skype. What broke the silence, however, was Rainbow Dash noticing the sun setting through the window. Getting up, she walked to the window and pressed her face against it, staring at the pool.
"What's taking her so long?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently, beginning to grow antsy. She looked over to me and rubbed the back of her neck, face filled with worry now. "It didn't take her long to do the spell that brought me here, so it shouldn't take that long to do it again, right?"
"I don't know, we don't have magic here so I don't know much about it." I said in an attempt to make her more comfortable, but instead it seemed to have the opposite effect. I sighed. I knew I was going to regret it, but I'm not completely heartless. "There is a guest bedroom in case you need to spend the night, just in case it takes her overnight."
"Cool, thanks." She said as she flashed me a small smile. But there was something behind the smile that made me slightly peeved. It was a smug smile, almost as if she thought I wanted her to stay here for a bit longer. I didn't like that one bit. She tilted her head as I put on a headset and put the laptop on my lap. She sat down on the couch with me and looked at the screen, scratching her chin in contemplation as I flicked through some menus. Her eyes narrowed slightly as the screen went black and a man with a valve on the back of his head appeared on the middle of the screen. "What's that?"
"It's a video game." I said passively, eyes going to the screen. "Do you have those where you're from?"
"Yeah, but they're usually on these really big machines, and not many ponies have them in their homes. They're usually in arcades. But I never saw one that could just fit on your lap. What kind of game is on it?"
"Lots of kinds. You got fighting games, strategy games, racing games-"
"There's racing on there?" She asked, eyes brightening up.
"Nah, I don't have on here."
"Why not?" She asked, then she rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're so lazy that you won't play any video games that involve moving..."
"Actually, since you're in a car and not being physical, that's one of the only kind of games that I'd probably do in real life..." I muttered as I clicked the mouse a few times, causing a loading screen that looked like a movie poster to pop up.
"Well..." She said after a few seconds as she looked back at the screen, watching the little bar on the bottom right move from one end to the other. "What kind of game is this?"
"It's a game called 'Left 4 Dead 2'."
"Sounds... strange. What do you do?"
"Well, you..." I trailed off as somebody in the game said hello.
I wasn't sure if this was the sort of thing I should be showing a pony from the apparently peaceful land of Equestria. From what I've seen they don't take well to a little mischief, let alone violence and dismemberment.
"Here, it'll be easier if I just show you." I said as I grabbed the gun and turned the mic on.
