Time Marches Onward

I woke up and almost pissed my pants. A shrill scream came from the bed, and the blue pegasus flew over to my little corner and demanded to know who I was and how I got inside. Still trying to sort my head out, I began to panic. What the hell was going on?, I thought. At that very moment, Applejack busted in, wondering what all of the commotion was.

“Relax Rainbow! This here's Calico, he's a friend of Big Mac's. He don't got nowhere to stay, so Ah brought 'im down to the farm to sleep here,” Rainbow landed in front of me, her face easing into a smile. She looked at me and chuckled.

“Well why didn't you just say so, and we could've avoided this whole mess?” she asked indignantly. I laughed as she helped me to my feet. She offered to let me take the shower first, so I went ahead and tried to hurry in the small guest room's bathroom so that she could have her turn. She walked right in, brushing past me as I left the bathroom, not seeming to care that I'd just gotten out of the shower. I got ready for the day and went down to the kitchen, where the Apple family served a generous breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and apple turnovers. Everything they ate seemed to have apple thrown in somewhere, no matter what. I ate quickly, and Granny Smith was sure to scold me about how people took their time eating back in her day. I offered to help around the farm, seeing as I had nothing better to do all day. I spent a few hours helping Applejack and Big Mac buck the last few apples out of the few trees left before winter, until Rainbow dropped down next to me, scaring the living fuck out of me. I always hated when things startle me. She laughed her light and contagious laugh when she realized that she'd scared me.

“Hey, I figured that since we're roommates and all, we could hang out for a while. I have a pretty cool spot across Whyte's Wood that I wanted to practice a few new tricks at. You up for a day or two of camping out?” she asked. I looked at Applejack, not wanting to leave her and Big Mac to do the work on their own.

As if sensing my discomfort, Big Mac looked at me and said, “Go on now. Nobody's stoppin' you from goin',”. With Mac's approval, Rainbow and I began packing. When she was just about done packing, she opened up a drawer at the base of the modest bed and pulled out a large bottle of vodka. She gave me a sly smile and stuffed it in her bag along with a few shot glasses.

“I've had this stuff sitting up here since I bought in in Canterlot a while ago. It was a whole fifty bits, so it better be worth it,” I had no idea that a pony like Rainbow would have such good taste in alcohol. I'd assumed that she didn't even drink. This is gonna be a fun trip, I thought. As we left the farm, Rainbow looked me in the eye.

“Hey... You, uh, you seem like a pretty cool guy. Maybe we could go and grab something to eat before we leave for Whyte's wood?” She said, stumbling over her words. Was she asking me out?, I thought, trying to figure out my ass from my head.

“Uhm, sure. That sounds great, I'd love to,” I was no good with girls when it came to dates. I always felt like I was fucking something up when I was on a date. We stopped in to the Prancing Pony, and we both ordered a steak. We both ate as fast as possible, earning us a look from the barpony. I paid for us with the money that Big Mac had given me for helping out around the farm, and we went off to Whyte's wood.  It seemed like the more I looked at her, the more beautiful she got. It was almost indescribable. It was like that perfect midsummer day, where the heat hits you just enough, and everything is illuminated by that perfect light. Her face was mesmerizing. I felt like I could get trapped looking into her beautiful eyes.

“..re you there? Hello?” It took me a while for her to pull me out of my train of thought, and when she did, she gave me a concerned look.

“You alright? You seemed a little dazed there. We need to set up camp here for the night, it's getting too dark to go on,” We began unpacking our things, and I helped her set up a tent just barely large enough for two ponies. We lit a fire and watched the sunset together, and soon enough, she put her arm around my shoulder and rested her head against mine.

I said, matter of factly, “look, I'm no good at these things but... I really like you too, Rainbow. And I... I think I love you. I mean, I barely know you, and I feel like we're meant for each othe-” My words are cut off as she kisses me, her tongue finding its way into my mouth and twisting its way through my teeth and over my tongue. She pulled away from me slowly, her eyes half opened and smiling.

“Technically, the first date was dinner. This is number two,” We both laughed and crawled into the tent, too tired from the long walk to do anything but sleep.