//------------------------------// // After Such A Night // Story: Double Rainbow // by MyLittleGeneration //------------------------------// Monday. It was Monday already, as if the entire weekend literally flew by after the ball. I got up, and looked directly at the sky through my window. It was a clear, blue sky, one which made me grin a little as I kicked myself out of bed. While doing my things, brushing my teeth, putting on the right clothing, my mind buzzed with all sorts of memories. Memories of the ball flashed all through my mind: the talk with Sunset, some really good jokes with the gang, and especially, especially, that kiss... It all felt so warm in a house that was usually so cold, especially in the morning. While we hadn’t become a couple, it was still an incredible night. One worth replaying in my mind over and over again... or at least it would’ve been, if the alert on my phone didn’t snap me back into reality. There were only ten minutes left until the bus arrived. I quickly fetched myself three pieces of buttered toast, quickly devoured them, and set out. ________________________________________ When I got off of the bus, I was quick to notice that the gang had beaten me there. They were all sitting at a table only a little distance away, smiling as they stared at me. No sign of Dash though, who I figured was probably just sick for the day. I walked over to the group. "Hey guys! Where's Dash?" I asked. Pinkie, bearing the biggest smile of the pack, quickly answered, "Dashie’s sick." Her smile faltered for a moment when she spoke, as if she were disappointed with what she’d said, before quickly returning back to normal, "But hey, at least you're here!" She said gleefully. She stared at me for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly made a squee noise. "Ooh… I can't take it anymore! HOWWASYOUR-" AJ covered Pinkie's mouth. "Er-hem..." she said, "Before Pinkie begins playing fifty questions with ya, let me ask ya: how was your night at the ball?" My cheeks almost flushed. "Pretty good, actually." Rarity giggled. "Oh, I bet it was much better than that, darling." She giggled more. “Come on, tell us all about it!" My cheeks flushed a bit. It felt weird having Dash's friends asking me that, especially while they were smiling like that, and the fact that they were all girls only made the situation feel even more unusual. Usually guys would talk about this with other guys, but that didn't seem like the situation here. But hey, odd or not, they were my friends, and I had no problem with letting them know the truth. "Well, first off... we did kiss." Everyone gasped and cheered. "But it was just once, and nothing much happened after that." I clarified afterwards. "Aw c’mon, there's gotta be more to it than that." Applejack said. "No, really, that's about it." I responded. "It was just that kiss and then..." I trailed off, which only made the girls more interested in the conversation then ever. "And then…?" asked Rarity, her eyes seeming to glimmer in anticipation. "Did you kiss again?" Pinkie guessed with a giggle. "Well," I said, recalling the words Dash told me… ‘Believe me, it’s not you, it’s me. I mean, I really do like you, and I’m glad that I met you, but love? I don't want that... At least, not now.’ I felt my heart drop a little as I remembered those words. I was perfectly fine with her decision, but even so... they still hurt to remember. "She said she didn't want us to become a thing." The group suddenly grew completely silent. Most of the girls looked like they were shocked by what I’d said, some shaking their heads while others just stared at me in disbelief. I cleared my throat. "At least, not yet." I added. "So… she denied you, huh?" Fluttershy said softly as she looked me straight on. Of all of the girls, she was the only one who didn’t seem particularly surprised by what I’d said. "But how?" Pinkie quietly said as her hair slowly deflated. "That's… I mean… that’s just a little... silly of Dashie." AJ just shook her head again. "I'm sorry to hear that, sugarcube." She said to me. "I-i'm fine." I told them. "I really am. Remember, I said 'yet'. So, if anything, we could become something later." A small blush grew. "Wait, did she really say 'yet'?" Rarity asked. "What do you- er, what does she mean by that?" "She said she didn't want to be part of a couple again so soon, so she put us off as friends. Close ones. She did, however, say that maybe we could be a thing if we gave it more time. You know, after we’ve gotten to learn more about each other and all of that. None of us are at bad ends." Rarity nodded, but didn’t say anything. The group then looked at each other for a second, before Applejack suddenly spoke up. "Why do I have a feeling..." she began, adjusting her hat for comfort while she spoke. "Feeling? What do you mean by that?” I asked her. "Nothin'." she said. "It’s really nothing more than a theory anyway.” "What?" we all asked at the same time. AJ shooed away a nearby fly, then continued to speak. "It really ain't that complicated, honestly." She adjusted her hat again. "Just think back to that week after Dash broke up with Rush. Ya’ll remember how hard it was on her, right?" Everyone nodded except me. “Yeah, I remember that. I never thought I’d see Dash that… broken” Sunset said as she looked over to the side. "Broken? Was it really that bad?" I asked. "Sure was." Applejack answered. "I wouldn’t say that it put her in a depression or anything like that, but she was clearly heartbroken over the whole thing. Flat out refused to talk to any of us for about a week." “But… when I talked with Dash about that whole breakup, she sounded like she was fine with it until Rush put up those pictures!” I exclaimed. “And is that really surprising?” Rarity asked me as she studied her nails, “I mean, you know how Dash is. You know how tough she is. Is it really that surprising that she would leave out a detail that would make herself seem so fragile, especially while talking to someone she’d only met that same semester?” I paused for a moment as I thought about what Rarity had said. She certainly had a point; I had only just met Dash when she told me that story after all, and if there was one thing that I learned about Dash very early on, it’s that she took a lot of pride in how tough she was. It would certainly make sense for her to hide a detail that would make her seem weak. “... Well, I guess that makes sense. How bad was her breakup?” I asked. "Well… she wouldn’t let me talk to her after school until five days after the breakup." Fluttershy said. "And even when she did start talking, it was only for ten minutes, way shorter than our usual chat after-school." She winced, "I still remember how sad she looked. Definitely not the Dash we know and love." "Ya got that right." AJ said. "Even when we did have a chance to talk to her, she barely added in the conversations. Most of them weren't even about the break-up at all, but it didn’t matter one little bit. For the longest time, she was just a shell of her former self. We all thought she was done by then." I slowly pieced it together, getting what AJ was saying. "I think I get where you’re going with this... So what you’re saying is that Dash doesn't want to be with me because-" "…She's still dealing with that break-up." AJ finished. "She may not harbor any love for him anymore. Heck, she hates him with all her guts, but after the way she was treated both during the breakup AND after it... I’d imagine that it made her really wary towards relationships. When you think about it that way, it’s kind of a miracle she even bothered with you, Blitz.” She rubbed her arms. "Don’t get me wrong, she's been doing a lot better since then, but I’d wager that the effect's still rubbin' on her." "Poor dear..." Rarity said. "Well, I'll give her as much time she needs, either way. Whether she does or doesn't have that still tearing her down." I said. My response made the others smile… well, most of them, anyway. Fluttershy didn’t grin after I said that, and was looking to the side with her arms crossed, seemingly deep in thought. "Well… that's good." Fluttershy said with a nod. "But, uh, say..." she began, before motioning for me to kneel down a little. I did what she asked, at which point she started whispering in my ear, "If you do manage to get Dash to be your girlfriend, can you promise me that you aren't going to break her heart?" I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "You have my word for it. If I somehow do, you can hunt me down." I answered. I expected that to reassure her a little, but surprisingly, it seemed to have the opposite effect, as she spoke her next words very bitterly. "You’d better not hurt her." Fluttershy said lowly. "What?" I questioned, shocked by the sudden level of bitterness in her tone. "Oh! N-nothing!" she said, blushing with embarrassment, as if she herself was surprised by what she had said. Before anyone could say anything, however, the first bell began ringing. "Well, I'll catch you guys later." "Good luck, dear." said Rarity. "Same 'ere." said AJ. "Just... don't tell her I thought of-" "No worries, partner." AJ said, tipping her hat. "Trust me, we won't be spoiling our chat 'ere, either." "Alright." I made my way to my locker, but on my way, I couldn't help but notice a few people's faces. They were looking at me, but had no clear expression. No glare, no smile, nothing like that. Most of them just jerked to the side to catch a glimpse of me. I was confused by this, of course, but I didn’t really bother thinking about it too much. After all, it was just some quick glimpses. I put my stuff inside my locker, all while people continued to stare at me. Even while looking inside of my locker, I could feel several pairs of eyes on the back of my neck. When I turned my head back, I saw a girl snap her head immediately away from me as soon as I looked. “What’s with everyone today?” I said to myself as I closed the locker. Sure, it wasn’t the entire school, as there were a good group of teens could care less, but I certainly wasn’t used to this much attention. Did I do something strange? Suddenly, I realized what the deal with all of the stares was. I let out a long sigh. It had to have been the kiss. I mean, who wouldn't focus on the person who kissed one of the most popular students of the school, a star-stunning athlete that people wished they could be who hadn’t been in a relationship for months, and then all of a sudden here comes this new kid fresh off the streets, who just kisses her on a huge night that the entire school basically went to within the span of a few months. Who wouldn’t find that surprising? I mean, it wasn't like I was asking for any attention, I just kissed Dash cause, well... she's Dash. Beautiful, strong, amazing! As soon as she comes back, though... it might just be- "Hey, loverboy!" said a male voice. "Huh?" I said, turning around. And alas, it was a jock. School jacket, white shirt, and apparently low-hanging pants, the official uniform of a douche who just wanted to cause trouble. I could sense it all over him. His arms were folded as another man stood next to him, wearing a similar attire, though smaller. "Oh, well would you look at this?" "Yeah, would you look at that..." said the man who called for me, "So, we heard that you had your dancing shoes on, huh?" I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah, I get it. Rush Down wants to threaten me because of what happened last night, so he sent you two to scare me, and blah-di-blah-blah. I get it. Can we just skip to the point?" The smaller jock leaned in to his friend's ear. "Are we really that obvious?" he whispered. "Well," said the jock, ignoring his friend's question, "Seems to me like you’re a step ahead of the game. I guess you already know that Rush don’t take too kindly to what you've been doing with her." "I guess you could say that." I answered. "And you know what, why does he care? Dash don't want him." "But he wants her." said the smaller jock. "Can it." the other jock said to his friend through his teeth. "Y'see, Rush can’t stand things going to waste, and a fine piece of ass like her with a scrawny thing like you seems like a pretty big waste to me." "Salty much?" I responded. "Why don’t you go on back to Rush and tell him that she’s not my girlfriend?" "But you kissed!" the smaller jock said out loud, making his friend backhand him. "Yeah, but let's just say she wants to take time and not just get straight into it." "Probably don't want none of you, then." the bigger jock spoke. "She just wants to get to know me better first, that's all. By the way, you can quit the tough act already. It’s not fooling anyone." I said to him. His fist was almost clenched, but not fully. "Just let it go, already. If Rush really is this mad about it, then he can come over here himself and say it to my face instead of sending Dumb and Dumber over to try to scare me." I said bitterly. I heard what sounded like a low growling noise coming from one of the jocks. It sounded like I’d really struck a nerve with them. "You’d better watch your mouth, pretty boy!" the jock snapped. "You have any idea what Rush could do to you if he came over here himself? He'd take your head and stamp it right through the top of the field goal post!" "Overkill, much?" I questioned. "Just watch it, kid." he warned. "Cause if you keep flapping that lip like that… your luck might just become very bad, very fast." I rolled my eyes and turned my back. "Just get to class." I said, as I walked away from them at my regular pace. In a minute, I ended up in my classroom, but I thought back to the petty threat they gave me. I didn’t get it. What was Rush’s problem? Yeah, she kissed me once, but that didn’t change anything. She wasn’t my girlfriend! She just wasn’t! Whatever his problem was though, it didn’t matter. I was positive that he wasn't going to lay a single finger on me or Dash, no matter how big a game he spoke. Even if he tried, we're pretty well covered. We have Dash's friends, Soarin, and hell, Spitfire looks like she can floor a guy out. They wouldn't dare... I continued on with the day. I still got a glimpse every now and again, but the annoyance wore off rather quickly. All I hoped was that Dash and I wouldn't be pressured or anything by all this... and hopefully, she won’t try to confront Rush Down or any of his team over it...