Love is Like Gravity

Terror.

Pure, primal fear filled Swift from the crazy ball of pink fluff that had assaulted his being upon opening the shop door. At first he thought the noise, all he heard was patrons enjoying their lunch hour, but after close inspection, noticed that this odd thing on top of him was attempting to communicate. It's words were so numerous and rapid-fire, they became not a run-on sentence, but one giant word in itself. After a few moments of this whirlwind of speech, he felt weight leave him and opened his eyes to see that Rainbow and Twilight (with some difficulty) had pulled what Swift could now tell was an Earth girl off of him.

'Sweet Celestia, what have I gotten myself into...' Swift thought, standing up. The girl was still speaking in her unintelligible speech, so Swift took this moment to look her over. She had bubbly pink hair down to her waist, brilliant blue eyes stared at him; glinting with enthusiasm and happiness. Everything she wore, a t-shirt with the word 'Smile!' across the chest and a mini skirt that reached around mid-thigh, was a slightly darker shade of pink than her hair. Another moment passed as Rainbow and Twilight tried to get her to slow down, all while Swift sat back and enjoyed the scene as it unfurled.

         "PINKIE! CALM DOWN!" Rainbow shouted, exceeding Pinkie's volume and stopping her  talking.

"Sorry, but you guys can't take a new person in here without some kinda warning!" Pinkie said happily. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you!" Pinkie said slower, but still faster than was needed.

"Uh, hi. I'm-" Swift began before being cut off by Rainbow.

"Hold that thought." She said before motioning for Twilight to levitate Pinkie in her lavender aura. "Good. Continue." Rainbow said, turning to Swift.

 "Okaaaaay. I'm Swift Repairs." Swift said with a small smile. 'Hey, this whole "socializing" thing is getting easier' Swift thought to himself, proud to have said a full sentence at normal volume without saying "uh". Swift then saw, in terror again, why Twilight had magically suspended Pinkie as she struggled vainly to tackle Swift in another killer hug and began speaking coke-addict again. Twilight shut Pinkie's mouth with her magic before turning her to face her.

"Pinkie; I'm going to release you. Promise to speak normally and NOT tackle Swift, okay?" Twilight told Pinkie, taking either cheek in her hands.

 Pinkie nodded in acceptance before Twilight gave her a stern look and the soft lavender glow around her evaporated and Pinkie fell to the floor. "Ohmygosh, your Swift Repairs, the inventor?!?!" Pinkie said taking a step towards him.

"Yup, that's me." Swift said with a full smile.

"That's soooooooo cool! *Gasp* But you came here to Sugarcube Corner! Do you need something?" Pinkie asked, slowing down just a little.

"Yeah, actually. We were wondering if we could get something to eat-"

*POOF*

 Swift stared at the spot Pinkie was just standing and was dumbfounded at how it was vacant now. "Over here, silly!" Swift heard from across the room were Pinkie now resided, behind the counter and ready to assist the group.

"What the fuck...?" Swift muttered in surprise.

"Don't ask. We don't even know." Rainbow said walking past him to the counter. Swift looked to Twilight for an answer, who just shrugged and followed Rainbow. Shrugging himself, Swift followed the two to the counter and looked hungrily at the many sweets behind the glass display. Swifts stomach let out another discontented growl at the sight of food.

 "Sounds like somebody's hungry! Here, follow me to your table." Pinkie said, walking to an empty table and motioning for the three to sit. "What do you guys want today?" Pinkie asked spawning a notepad and pencil from seemingly nowhere.

"I'll have a slice of double chocolate fudge cake." Rainbow said.

"I'll have the orange and lemon salad." Twilight said. Pinkie scribbled down their request before turning to Swift.

"What would you like, Swifty?" Pinkie asked the pegasus.

 Swift hung his head in depression as the mentioning of his mother's pet name for him entered his ears. Rainbow placed a hand on his shoulder, "Shit... I'm sorry Swift."

Pinkie looked to Twilight in confusion at Swift's reaction. Twilight mentioned her close and whispered in her ear, "Swifty was his mother's name for him. She and his father were murdered in front of him."

Pinkies hair went straight as a line upon hearing this and hugged Swift with as much love as she possibly could muster. "I'm so, so, sooo sorry Swift! I didn't know!" Pinkie cried into his shoulder. Swift choked back the tears that he felt before responding.

"It's ok Pinkie. You didn't know. It's not your fault." Swift said with a warm smile.

Pinkie sniffled, "So... you're not mad?" she asked.

Swift smiled sincerely, "No, not at all."

  *POOF*

 Pinkies hair was back to it's normal curls. "Great! What'll you have?" Pinkie asked in her normal voice.

"I'll, uh... have a burger?" Swift asked rather than said.

"How would you like that done?" Pinkie asked writing down his order.

"Medium. And do you have curly fries?" Swift asked, unsure of what to expect.

Pinkie's eyes lit up at his request, "We sure do! I'll be back soon!" Pinkie said bouncing off.

"That was... different." Swift said once Pinkie was out of earshot.

"Yeah, Pinkie can be a bit much at times." Rainbow said. "I'm really sorry about what she said." She added putting a hand over Swift's.

"It's fine. She didn't know. Besides, it felt good to talk about... it... after so long." Swift said, looking over to Rainbow. He looked into those beautiful magenta eyes, losing himself in them, finally noticing how mesmerizing they were. After what felt like forever, Twilight cleared her throat rather loudly, snapping Swift and Rainbow Dash out of their trance. Both looked away, blushing furiously. Twilight let a smirk cross her face as the two looked everywhere but her and each other.

One Month Later, Just Outside Ponyville

Swift looked back on that day with a fond mind. That had been the day he meet all his friends, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity... and Rainbow Dash. Out of all the people he had meet, Rainbow was the most special to him. Everything about her was perfect; her multi-color hair, her flight skills, her- no, stop it Swift. Focus on the goal in front of you: getting this thing to work. If it passed this test, it would have made it the farthest out of the first two prototypes. As the sixth 100 lb. weight was placed on top of the growing pile, the metals let out a loud groan and collapsed into a twisted pile of disappointment.

"FUCK!" Swift yelled, flipping the table and storming over to Faithful, his beloved swivel chair, and collapsed into her. Swift put his hand to his face and stifled a sob. For 30 grueling days, he had tried to make a rough model of a prosthetic wing that would be able to handle competition-level flight, to no success. He had made several plans for one, today being the test of blueprint 48371 also know as Plan C. Swift composed himself as he heard the intercom buzz to life.

"Hey, Swift, it's me. Mind if I come in?" It was Rainbow.

"Yeah, I'm in the Crows Nest. Be down shortly." Swift sighed into the intercom.

The Crows Nest, as Swift had come to call it, was a round room at the very top his his 3 story cloud mansion, with a spectacular view 360 degrees around, built after the Vatican's church towers. It was his testing room, his slice of heaven, his sacred temple. No one, not even Rainbow, had seen the inside of this room. When everything went to shit in his life, this place provided calmness and safety when nowhere else could. As to why those weights were being piled onto the wing, they needed to be able to survive several G's of force, and given a testing facility for such experiments would be expensive (not to mention unpleasant to look at), Swift had to make do with the 'old fashioned way'.

 Heading down the spiral staircase down to the level below the Crows Nest, Swift idly rubbed his chin, feeling the itch of whiskers scratch at his palm. 'Maybe it's time to shave...' Swift thought, walking down the hallway to the master staircase that descend to the main floor. Swift headed for the game room, were Rainbow and Swift spent the majority of time during visits, and saw Rainbow sitting down in her favorite red bean bag chair.

"Hey, Scruffy." Rainbow said with a smile.

'Yup, time to shave soon.' Swift thought, smiling at Rainbow. "Hey little Ms. 10-Seconds-Flat." Swift said with a chuckle.

Rainbow pouted her adorable pout and looked at him with puppy-dog eyes. "You're still mad about that?" She said in an innocent voice, followed by a wicked grin. A week or so ago, Rainbow made a bet that she could beat Swift at Super Equestrian Fighter V in 10 seconds flat. Loser had to go into Sugarcube Corner wearing a bright pink unitard. Needless to say, that was not one of Swift's best visits to the candy shop.

"Not as much, but I WILL get you back one day." Swift said, collapsing in his black bean bag chair next to Rainbow with a rueful smile.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Ah, you love me and you know it." Rainbow said picking up an Xbox controller.

 Swift flinched at Rainbow saying,"love me" but she didn't notice.

'What the hell was that about...?' Swift thought, picking up his own controller and holding the Xbox Guide button to power on the console. "So, why did you drop by? Were you just in the neighborhood and thought, 'Huh, better get my ass kicked at video games by Swift again'. Or did you have something to talk about?" Swift said matching Rainbow's wicked grin. Rainbow glared at him.

"You just barely won last time. Stupid fucking ballistic knifes..." Rainbow mumbled, referring to their last 1 on 1 cage match in Call Of Duty: Black Ops II. Swift chuckled at Rainbows despair.

"Guess you aren't the master of games anymore." Swift said, pressing play on COD: Black Ops II.

 "Well, we'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" Rainbow said with a mischievous grin. Swift didn't accept her challenge, but rather, clicked on Team Deathmatch.

"I thought we could mix it up a little today. We'll be on the same team, but whoever has the highest score in each game on said team wins. Agreed?" Swift said, preparing his custom classes.

"Fair enough. You're still going to lose." Rainbow said as the match began. The two spent several hours playing online, neither being able to top the other in victories. They were on their 20-something match when their stomachs grumbled and growled in unison.

"Alright, last match tie breaker before lunch, kay?" Swift offered without looking away.

"BULLSHIT, I KILLED YOU! And yeah, sounds like a plan." Rainbow said, first over the mic, then to Swift. Swift chuckled, gaining the final kill and jumping up with his arms raised in victory.

"Swift is the champion once again! Ha ha haaa!" Swift said before something hard hit him in his side. "Ow, geez, calm down Dashie. It's just a game..." Swift said, rubbing his side were Rainbow had thrown her controller at him.

Rainbow turned to face away from him in mock anger, "Well, don't get cheap kills and I won't." Rainbow said in a teasing voice.

"Pff. Bro had it comin'." Swift said, sitting down as both stomachs roared again.

"Now, about that lunch you offered..." Rainbow said, signing out and turning her controller off. Swift turned the Xbox off and turned off the t.v.

"I just do NOT feel like cooking anything. Pizza sound good?" Swift said looking over to Rainbow.

"Sure, pepperoni and mushrooms please." She said.

"Rainbow Dash saying please... never thought the day would come." Swift said rising to head to the phone in the corner of the room.

"Shut up." Rainbow said playfully. "It's just, after how you sounded over the intercom, I thought you would appreciate some kindness." Rainbow explained.

Swift froze up a little as the ringer began to sound over the phone. He had all but forgotten about the failure of Plan C earlier. When the employee answered, Swift took a moment to respond. "Uh, yeah, can I get a large pizza, pepperoni and mushrooms please? Delivery. 1891 just outside Ponyville, giant cloud mansion, you can't miss it. Cool. Thank you." Swift said while Rainbow watched him. Swift hung up and sighed, the full weight of depression and failure now pressing on him. Rainbow saw his change from happy to sad and this worried her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rainbow said, scooting her bean bag chair closer.

 Swift fell into his and looked at his feet. He hadn't told anybody about his plans to make a prosthetic wing for himself, not even Rainbow. It was a self-proclaimed taboo to talk about his projects to others unless they had been absolutely, positively been completed and ready for, or released to the public. "It's just a little something something I've been working on failed a crucial test today. Plan C status." Swift said, still avoiding her.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Rainbow said, pulling her friend into a sideways hug. Swift had told all his friends at one point or another about his taboo and Plan systems. Rainbow knew Plan C was a pain in the ass to fail, his tablet had only required Plan B, and it was exploring (very limited) eye-sight control systems.

"Thanks. It means alot coming from you." Swift said, returning the hug.

"Really?" Rainbow asked, looking over to Swift.

Swift looked at her with a smile. "Yeah, it really does." Swift said, causing Rainbow to blush. After a moment, Rainbow separated from the hug and turned to face Swift.

"Uh, can I ask you something... personal?" Rainbow asked awkwardly, still blushing.

"This kinda came out of nowhere, but, sure. Shoot." Swift said, facing her. Rainbow looked at the ground in front of her for a moment before looking up at Swift.

"Do you like me?"

         Swift choked on the soda he was drinking while he waited for Rainbows question to arrive; never thought it would be THAT. Nose burning like the seventh circle of hell, Swift managed to get his breathing in check again before responding, Rainbow holding a no-nonsense look the whole time. "What? Where did that come from?" Swift asked quickly.

Rainbow turned her gaze back down to the ground, "I've been thinking about... how we meet." Rainbow began, still looking at the floor. "And how that might have made our friendship what it is... and I can't help but think that our whole friendship... is because I saved you..." Rainbow lifted her head and Swift saw tears forming.

 "Hey, hey, Rainbow. That's not it at all." Swift said, tears forming on his eyes at seeing Rainbow like this. "Am I in you debt forever for saving my life? Yes. Just like I'm in Twilight's debt. But... us? All of you guys, that is real. You all are my friends, the only ones that I have ever had. I can talk to you guys, I've opened up to people more easily, I was able to tell you and Twi my deepest, darkest demon that has haunted me for my entire life. You, Twi, you all mean the world and more to me." Swift said, both crying at this point. "Remember the day I told you what happened to my parents, how I said that if I had died, I would have been happy?" Swift asked.

         Rainbow looked at him. "Yeah..." Rainbow managed after a moment. Swift took her hands in his.

"Now, looking back on it... thinking that I could have died without meeting you... I know that I would have died the saddest man in Equestria." Swift said, looking into her glinting magenta eyes. Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. "And... every time we get to hang out... it's the greatest times that I have ever had. I-" Swift was cut off by Rainbow pressing her lips against his. Swift was stunned by her sudden kiss, but kissed her back quickly, letting out a pleased moan. When Rainbow pulled back, Swift finished his sentence. "- like you."

 *Knock knock knock* "Pizza!"