POV: Rainbow Dash
“What do you mean ‘he isn’t coming’?!”
It was Saturday afternoon and I was eagerly waiting for Markus to come back to Ponyville for the weekend. However, as the hours went by, I grew more and more impatient until finally, I couldn’t wait anymore. I opted to ask Twilight if she knew something. After all, she was with him when he went to Canterlot.
“It means that he won’t be here this weekend, Rainbow!”
Twilight was reorganizing her library again, when I barged in and…. Maybe I completely ruined her efforts… Needless to say, she wasn’t very amused at all when I just ignored it and asked for Markus.
“And now help me pick up the books! You were the one who knocked them down, after all!”
When I noticed the mayhem I had caused, I could only scratch the back of my head and smile sheepishly in embarrassment, before I quickly made a swoop down to help Twilight. At that moment, Rarity entered.
“Twilight dear, could—Oh my, what happened, Darling?”
Rarity looked around the Library, where dozens of books still lay scattered across the ground. Twilight looked at her with an annoyed expression, before she nodded towards me. Rarity looked over and her lips formed an ‘o’, as she spied me.
“On second thought, I think I can imagine what exactly caused this. Do you need help, Darling?”
I was still zipping around, picking up books at that moment, making visible progress.
“No, thanks, Rarity.” Twilight said, as she watched me work. “After she’s caused this mess, she should be the one to clear it at least.”
“What mess?” I chipped in, as I hovered in front of them with my chest puffed out in pride. I had managed to clear the Library floor of any books within just a few seconds.
Twilight looked over the non-existent mess for a moment, before she signaled me that I was in the clear again with an amused smile and a roll of her eyes.
“Anyways, you wanted to ask something?” She said, as she turned back to Rarity.
“Ah, yes, Darling. I actually wanted to ask, if you had seen Markus today?”
“No, I haven’t, Rarity. Like I told Rainbow earlier, Markus isn’t coming this weekend.” Twilight answered with another roll of her eyes.
“Oh, what a pity. You know, he wrote me a letter and—“
“Wait, he wrote you a letter? Why didn’t he write me? Aw dude, that isn’t fair!” I cried, as I felt as betrayed as I could. Did I have no chance with Markus? Did Rarity want to steal him? Or were they maybe even in a relationship already?
Those were the questions, I can recall having at that time. In hindsight, I know it sounds silly, but you’ve got to understand: I didn’t have much romantic experience. I mean sure, I had my teen-crushes, but I wasn’t actually ever in love before and when I finally met Markus, the worst fear I had was that somepony would claim him before I could.
“Ok, you know what?” I determined. “When the Dragon doesn’t come to Celestia, Celestia comes to the Dragon!”
Before anypony could say anything, I rushed out through an open window and towards Canterlot. An hour later, I flew into the castle halls, in search for a certain human. One of the benefits of being an Element Bearer is that I could fly through the palace freely, without any questions.
Suddenly, as I sped around a corner, I felt my cheek connect with something fleshy and before I could react in any way, I found myself on top of somepony else.
“Ah, sorry dude, I didn’t see—“ My words stuck in my throat, as I noticed, whom I actually hit.
There, under me, lay Markus, knocked on his back by the impact, with me laying on his chest, and his eyes wide in surprise. But more importantly, I saw that… our lips were so… very… close…
As I noticed this, my thoughts ran haywire and I felt a wave of heat hit my face. My breathing sped up, slowly becoming more shallow and irregular.
“What should I do? What should I say? Should I even say anything?” I didn’t know, what to do, instincts being the only thing still working with me, as my muzzle slowly closed the distance on its own.
My face went beet-red and I started to completely hyperventilate, as my lips were still inching closer to his. I didn’t know in or out and it became increasingly more difficult for me to grab a thought, so I… I just closed my eyes and… let my body move on its own.
Slowly, my muzzle made its way towards his mouth. I could feel his breath flow against my snout and I felt the first few bits of his mustache touch my lips. And then, finally…
All of a sudden, the hallways were filled with the sound of hooves closing in, ripping me out of… whatever you might call it. I quickly got off of Markus, allowing him to get back on his feet. The heat started to slowly dissipate, allowing me to think clearly again.
I looked up at Markus and quickly, the arousal from earlier gave way to utter embarrassment. As he looked back, I suddenly found the floor in front of me to be very interesting.
“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” He asked, the situation from just earlier apparently not having an effect on him at all.
I just kept my gaze to the ground, slowly drawing circles with my hoof, as I contemplated what I wanted to say. Then, drawing all of my courage, I spoke… or at least I tried to, but all that came out was a whisper that would put Fluttershy to shame.
“I- I wanted to hang out with you and when you didn’t come to Ponyville, I… you know…”
I trailed off, not knowing what to say any more, but still feeling the need to explain myself. Then, suddenly, I felt a pressure on my head. I looked up to see Markus had kneeled down beside me and had put his hand onto my head. He then slowly stroked through my mane and scratched me behind the ear, the pleasure of which quickly causing any earlier thoughts to melt away.
“Aww, sorry Rainbow.” He said. “I wanted to come this weekend, but work seems to have other plans. I promise, though, that I will come visit next weekend.”
I gave him a quick jab into the side, for treating me like a child. “Alright, but you’ve got to promise, okay?” I said, as I did so.
Markus crossed his fingers and held them over his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now that this is resolved, I suppose there is someone else that wants to talk to me.” He said, as he looked down the hallway.
It was only then that I noticed that the steps from earlier had vanished. I followed his gaze and almost froze in place, as I saw Princess Luna stand there before us.
“Oh no, take your time, we have all night to talk, after all.”
Markus chuckled and shook his head. “Well, maybe, but it is better to get these things done as quickly as possible.” He turned back to me and smiled down. “I’ll see you in a week, Rainbow. I promise, this time for sure.”
He went to set off down the hallway, but I didn’t move. I don’t know what it was exactly that kept me standing there back then, only that half of me wanted to go and the other wanted to stay.
Then, suddenly, I felt something grab my shoulders and, with a yelp from me, I got lifted off the ground and pressed into a quick, but tight hug by Markus. He set me back down and started walking down the hallway, only turning around once to wave goodbye.
The next Saturday, me and Twilight were eagerly waiting at the station for Markus to arrive. I don’t know exactly, when we were there, I just know that somewhere during our wait, the clock chimed seven. Twilight insisted on being at least an hour early, in case we misread the plan or something. I don’t actually know anymore and honestly, I doubt I did back then, as I probably just shrugged it off as another Twilight-thing.
Finally, at 8am, the train arrived. We both had not spoken a word, as we were both staring at the wagon before us. The stream of ponies getting off slowly faded and soon cut off completely. The doors closed and the train slowly puffed off and out of the station. Still, Markus was not in sight. I felt a little twinge in my heart from the thought that, maybe, he had found something more important yet again. Twilight and I both shared a short, baffled look, before Twilight’s morphed into a sheepish smile.
“Well, uhm, maybe he just missed the train?” She said, trying to hide her worry.
I was about to throw my hooves in the air and sarcastically exclaim ‘YAY, three more hours of waiting! AWESOME!’, but before I could do that, a certain masculine voice called out behind us.
“Who missed the train?”
We spun around and were happy to see the 5-coloured pattern, we had been waiting for, for the past hour or so. We both went ahead and greeted him with a hug.
“Wait a second, where do you come from, all of a sudden?” I asked with a good bit of confusion.
Markus, meanwhile, just raised an eyebrow. “Euh, out of the train, obviously?”
“But that’s impossible! We’ve been watching the train this whole time and didn’t see you!” I retorted.
Markus just shrugged at this. “Hey, it’s not my fault that you two have been staring at just one train car this whole time!”
Twilight and I shared a baffled look, before a giggling fit overcame both of us, then extended into laughter over our own stupidity. Eventually, we managed to calm down and Twilight looked up at Markus again, only to tilt her head in wonder and point a hoof at his shoulders.
“Uhm, why did you bring those?” She asked.
I followed her hoof and just then noticed the black barrel protruding from behind his back. I hovered up to his height and saw that he had his backpack and weapon both strapped to his back, as well as his sword, knife and a red and a green pouch fixed to his belt.
“I mean, I can understand that you didn’t want to leave your weapons alone in Canterlot, lest somepony steals them, but why did you bring your uniforms as well? Are you planning on moving back to Ponyville again?”
Markus shook his head. “You are mistaken, dear Twilight. This backpack doesn’t contain my clothes. Instead, I have brought something else.”
“Oh, did you bring gifts from Canterlot?” Twilight asked with a hint of excitement and I can’t deny that I, too was a little bit excited over Markus bringing me gifts.
“In a way, yes.” He answered.
“Really? What is it?” I giddily asked, as my excitement grew steadily.
“Oh, you will see very soon. But first, we need to fetch Applejack.”
My heart stopped for a short moment as he said that. “Wait, the gift is for Applejack?”
To my relief, Markus shook his head and my heart started beating again. “No, I just need her to test something. In fact, I need you two as well.”
He gestured us to follow him, as he set off towards Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and I shared a short look of confusion, before we set off behind him.
At Sweet Apple Acres, we instantly saw Applejack move around her Barn, doing stuff. We went straight towards her and, as she saw us, she went to meet us.
“Howdy, y’all, mighty fine seeing ya in Ponyville again, Markus!”
“It is a pleasure to see you too, Applejack. However, I didn’t come just out of courtesy. In fact, I would like you to help me with something.”
“Sure, just ask away!” Applejack said.
“Well, first off: Do you know a place where we wouldn’t disturb anyone, no matter how loud we will be, and wouldn’t do all too much damage if something went wrong?”
Applejack put a hoof to her muzzle in thought for a short moment, before she answered. “Well, there’d be the Southern Orchard. Ah’ve tried ta grow somethin’ down there, but now, it’s just some dead trunks left…”
She suddenly looked back up at Markus, her face showing a mix of confusion and worry. “Hold on a minute, what do ya mean with ‘if something went wrong’? Ya aint gonna blow up mah Orchard again, are ya?”
Markus chuckled and smirked at her. “Well, you are soon gonna find out, because the second part of my request is that you may accompany us.”
Applejack exchanged confused looks with me and Twilight, then thought for a short moment, before, finally, she agreed. “Ah shoot, okay. Come on then, Ah’ll show ya the way.”
She trotted off out of the gate and down the road and we followed her. Reaching the Southern Orchard, we saw what Applejack meant by ‘some dead trunks’. It looked like the other Orchards, except the trees didn’t carry any leaves or Apples and their bark had taken on a shade of dark brown to black in some cases.
We entered the Orchard and Markus promptly started his preparations. He set down his backpack and pulled three large Archery targets from it. He then went a good distance down the orchard and pinned them to the trees. He then came back and pulled a batch of metal parts out. It looked like two clamps, which were padded and held together by another piece of metal. There were also some additional parts and screws still in his pack.
He went to Applejack and set the contraption down on her back, before he went to work on the clamps.
“Euh, Markus, what in the hay are yaHIIIIIIIIIII--”
As Markus affixed the first clamp at her lower barrel, Applejack suddenly tensed up and started to shiver at the touch of the cold metal.
“Darnit, Markus! What’d ah tell ya ‘bout mares ‘n bellies?!” She scolded.
Markus kept working nonetheless, only chuckling for a moment.
“Sorry, Applejack. This design is still work-in progress, so obviously it isn’t perfect just yet.”
He closed another clamp on her upper barrel and then came back to retrieve the other parts. It looked like a foreleg with a fixture on one side, while the other had a large hole in it. He screwed the hole-end onto the forward clamp, letting the fixture thing hang in the air, about at Applejack’s eyelevel. He then put his weapon onto the fixture and attached a grip-like thing to its lower part and put it in front of Applejack’s face. He gave the grip a flick and a circle with a cross inside shot up from the grip directly in front of Applejack’s right eye.
“Now, Applejack…” He started. “take this into your mouth, but don’t bite down just yet.” He pointed at the grip-thing. Applejack did as he said, being careful as to not grab it too hard with her teeth. “Next, you aim the middle of that cross into the center of the leftmost target down there. When you’re ready, you bite down.”
Applejack bobbed her head in understanding and Markus went behind her.
“Oh yeah, one last thing: mind the recoil!”
Applejack turned slightly to the side with her eyebrow raised, still keeping the grip in her mouth.
“Phat do ya m—“
Suddenly, as she tried to form and ‘m’, she bit down onto the grip, causing Markus’s weapon to erupt in a tirade of loud cracks, shooting fire and glowing rocks from its end. Twilight quickly pulled me behind a nearby tree, as Applejack wiggled around uncontrollably, sending those glowing rocks flying everywhere around us. Markus quickly stepped in and grabbed Applejack, pointing her down the Orchard and helping her keep her balance until the whole thing ended with a ‘click’.
“Well, that went better than expected.” Markus said, as he freed Applejack from the device. Twilight and I, meanwhile, stepped out from behind the tree again.
“’Better than expected’? I would say it went completely out of control there.” Twilight commented.
“Yes, but because of a lack of training, not because the device didn’t work. That being said: Applejack, could you tell me, if you found anything wrong with it, apart from your obvious loss of control there?”
Applejack, who had calmed down by now, eyed the thing warily, before looking at Markus with a slightly insecure look. She kept her gaze for a short moment, before sighing and looking back at the thing.
“Ya know, ah don’t know much ‘bout this stuff, so ah can’t really say anythin’. What I did notice, however, was that my ears are mighty a hurtin’ ‘cause it was so close to’em. Also it felt kinda heavy on my front hooves, but my hind ones didn’t feel like they were carrying anything at all.”
Markus scratched his chin in thought. “Thanks Applejack. Maybe I should attach it to the middle part, then…” he mumbled, but quickly shook his head. “Well, now’s not the time, we need to keep going.”
He pulled two padded, metal semi-circles out of his backpack. Both had a few metal sticks attached to them, as well as a pair of screws. He put one of the semi-circles under the front part of his weapon and clenched it down with the screws, making it so that the padding pointed downwards. He then attached the second semi-circle to a small lever-like thing underneath the weapon, having it point forward. He then turned to me.
“Now it’s your turn, Rainbow. I need you to hold this thing, while you hover in the air.”
I quickly rose to his eyelevel and he handed me the thing. I tried to figure out, how to handle it, but failed miserably. Markus stifled a short laugh and then went to help me. He took my left foreleg and put it under the forward semi-circle, resting most of the weight of the weapon on it. He then took my other leg and put it into the other part. He also explained something to me, but I couldn’t listen, as I was too preoccupied with his touch. The feeling of his warm hands on my forelegs caused my face to warm up, but I managed to keep my composure. That is, until I suddenly felt his grip not on my forelegs anymore, but on my barrel and shoulder. In a flash, my face lit up and I quickly looked away, straight at Applejack, who gave me a confused look at first, which slowly morphed into a knowing smirk.
“Rainbow? Rainbow, are you still there?”
Markus’s calling quickly snapped me out of it. I looked at him and smiled sheepishly.
“Ehehehe, sorry, kinda zoned out there…”
Markus raised an eyebrow and then sighed.
“You know what? Nevermind. Just make sure you keep it pressed against your shoulder with your left hoof. Now, you rest your cheek against the rear and look through the visor, that’s the whole thing on top there.”
I did as he said, but found that there were two things to look through.
“Euh, which one? There are two here.”
“Doesn’t matter. The lower one is a small scope with a 3x zoom and a few distance markings, while the upper one is just a simple glass pane with a red dot in the middle. Just pick one and hold the middle marking over one of the targets. Then you press your right hoof against the contraption when you’re ready.”
I chose the lower one. It had a line running through the middle, as well as a circle with a cross in the center. I tried to lay that cross over a target, but I was swaying pretty hard. Then, when I swiped over it once, I pulled my hoof towards myself. Three cracks sounded up and three glowing rocks flew down the orchard, but nothing more happened.
“Euh, Markus? Why isn’t it working anymore?” I asked.
“I’ve put it into burst mode, seeing as Applejack had so much trouble with the recoil. You just need to tab it multiple times, that’s all.”
And so I did, pulling again after each of these ‘bursts’. I’ve got to say, it was a lot of fun, even though I knew that thing was made to kill. Admittedly, it was a bit loud, but I actually found it a lot louder when I was not behind it. I pulled a few more times, until a ‘click’ marked that the fun was over. Markus let go of me and stored his contraptions back into his backpack and shouldered his weapon.
“Now that this is over, only one thing is left.” Markus said, as he pulled something out of the green pouch. It was a small thing, shaped like a warped L, with the same lever-thing like the other weapon underneath it. He grabbed the upper end and held it out towards Twilight.
“Here, you have seen me work my rifle before and this pistol works in the same way. Just levitate it in your magic and try firing a few shots down the range. You aim by aligning the gap in the rear with the pin in the front and holding them over your target.” Markus explained.
Twilight levitated the ‘pistol’ over to her with her magic, then let it float before her face, before using her magic to pull the lever on the lower side. A single ‘shot’ fired with each time she pulled it, until after the fifteenth time, the upper part of the pistol stuck back and a hole in the top showed that it was empty. She then levitated the empty pistol towards Markus, who took it from the air and put it back into its pouch.
“That went perfect. Well, not that it’s unexpected. Now, I probably should pick up the casings…”
Suddenly, a bunch of golden objects floated up from the grass, surrounded by Twilight’s aura, before they placed themselves into Markus’s backpack as well. The targets came floating towards us and, as they drew closer, I could see a bunch of holes in each one of them. Well, at least mine and Twilight’s had a lot of holes in them. Apart from a few holes on the edges and five-or-so close to the middle, Applejack’s looked pretty empty.
Markus had a satisfied smile on his lips. He rolled the targets up and stowed them away as well, before heading back into town with us. We brought Applejack back to her Farmhouse, before setting off towards the Library. Markus went to open the door, but Spike was faster, quickly letting us in. However, as we were inside, we noticed that Spike didn’t look all too good. In fact he looked…
…Pretty distressed.