“Dash would you go out with me?” You said, your words rushing out before your head could process the meanings of your words.
“Whuh!!” She welps. You look over and the red tinge of her blush becoming so thick you could hardly see blue hair. She rambles at high speeds, you're only able to pick up a few words “Wh- what- what- what kind- what- what kind-”
You could hear her heartbeat. That's not even a metaphor, you could actually hear a pounding coming from her body. You furrow your brows in confusion. You still can't get used to the fact that this place is a cartoon world. Rainbow’s ears shrink back, and she becomes bashful refusing to meet your eyes while as red as one-sixth of her hair. It only confuses you more.
“W-Why would you ask that?” She manages to piece together annnd it just kicked in.
“A-OH!” you yelp eyes shooting up in surprise. Your arms drastically waving no. “NOT LIKE THAT!”
She looks back at you. “It...isn’t..?” her ears stay drooping. Her blush starts to fade from her face.
“N-no! I was just...” she stares into your eyes. It's hard to describe her face. Her mouth is frowning, but her eyes tell a different story. The magenta colors bristle with hungry curiosity, and... Disappointment. “I just mean that...would you... Go out with..”
You try to find the words to say at this point but it's difficult to explain yourself. Rainbow’s ears perk up and she takes a step closer to you. Her mouth parts a tiny gap as she whispers something you can't hear. She wants you to explain.
“..a human. Like would you, or..anypony go out with a human? Like, is that taboo or...” her eyes fill with understanding. Her ears twitch a little and go up but still droop. You don't blame her must have been an awkward question.
“Oh,” she says, she sounds disappointed. Perhaps she just didn't like the idea of cross-species dating. You quickly respond.
“I mean like I think I have a good personality, right? So you know I just thought I would ask if I seemed dateable to you. Sorry weird way to ask.” you scratch your head and look away. You wanted to punch something, this was so awkward.
“No!!!” she yells a bit too eagerly before rushing to calm herself down. “I mean... it's not..your fault. Or something.”
You laughed embarrassingly. “I know it's sappy and all that.” eugh, vulnerability. “It's just time for me to find someone...you know?”
“Isn’t that something for old ponies? You don't look THAT old..” Rainbow jokes.
“I-” you aren't sure how to put this. “Humans operate a little differently. We...”
You were lying through your teeth. You had no idea what you were saying.
“Is that why you’ve been going to Zecora?” another voice spoke up, not scratchy like Rainbow’s. You turn, and there was the rest of the Mane 6. They all looked at you, some look worried, some look curious, pinkie pie looks happy. You feel... Raw. Exposed. Incredibly incredibly embarrassed. Twilight spoke again. “She said you have been going to her for sleep potions.”
You smile, but not a genuine kind of smile. An ‘I have been caught going to the GTA strip club by your grandparents’ smile. This day is going poorly. You just have to come clean. “Uh... Yeah.”
Rarity comes up and places a hoof on your back. “Oh, you poor darling. The only human on Equestria, and all you want is a mate. Losing sleep over love..”
Twilight nudged her friend. “Rarity!!” she whispered.
“What??!” she said, “it is romantic!”
“I think it's kinda sweet.” Fluttershy adds.
“If you were struggling with sleep why didn't you just come to us?” Twilight asks, still concerned and a little offended. You hope to Celestia that they don't get more offended by your feelings.
“Well... To be honest. I thought it was pretty silly..? I don't know, I was afraid you guys would find it kinda gross or something.”
“Gross? Darling, of course, it's not gross. Love is beautiful, no matter what species.” Rarity comes close and hugged you.
“Oh, Anon.” Fluttershy joins the hug. AJ follows.
“Yea, ma cousin is datin one of them Buffalo.”
“We would never find you gross Anon. In fact, we’ll totally support you and help you out in finding a date!” Twilight said and the cheers of her compatriots followed. Pinkie jumps into the hug cheering.
“I know EXACTLY what to do!!!!! We can throw Nonny a great big singles-get-together-if-you-ponies-and-nonny-think-its-a-right-match party!!” She squeezes the five of you extra tight.
“Pink..ie...” twilight chokes out and all are let go out of the party pony’s death hold.
“Thanks for the... Encouragement ladies.” You say. “I’m sorry for all the fuss.”
You feel silly still, it wasn’t the first time you were emotionally vulnerable to the girls. You have had many moments since you came here where you opened your heart to several of the girls one on one and at the same time. You couldn’t help but cry when you and pinkie perfected your dad's old cheesecake recipe, the one where he replaced the crust with chocolate. Or that time you got emotional over telling rarity about helping your mom design clothes for her third grader’s Christmas play. The first time you cried was in front of the princesses and the girls a few days after your arrival when you realized you would never see anyone ever again. That’s enough pondering.
As they tell you how there is no need for apologies you finally notice that rainbow never said anything, or was a part of the hug. She’s been quiet this whole time, still is. As you look over you notice that she’s looking out at the river too. She looks deep in thought. A part of you fears she doesn’t hold the same thought process as the others, or maybe what you originally said still bothered her. It was a selfish and surprising thing to ask. Suddenly an idea came back to you, maybe that would cheer her up.
“Listen, girls, I’d love to chat but I think I’ve wasted enough of our precious picnic time. Why don’t we go eat?” You ask, feeling good again.
“Oh thank Celestia!! I made this really gooey cake that I NEED to have before I go cRAZYYY.” Pinkie Pie began bouncing her way up the field and others followed.
As the others leave, you watch RD, she doesn’t even notice.
“Hey.” You say softly. You jolt your head towards the other “Grubs on.”
“Huh?” She looks at you, confused. “Oh. Sorry, I-“
“No I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dumped this all on you out of the blue like that.”
“No, anon..that’s not..” she sighs, as you tilt your head in confusion. She breathes in and her Bravada comes back. “I get it, I mean even the most awesome pony ever worries about if she can find someone as awesome as her.”
You nod. “I’m glad you do. Now come on, let’s go eat.” You begin to trot after the others.
Rainbow takes one last look at the lake and sighs again. “...or if that awesome pony would want her back.”
——————
Rainbow dash is the coolest awesomest radicalest pony in ponyville if not Equestria, and she knows it. She owns it too. She has her own fan club in three different cities and plenty of admirers. She gets fan letters almost every day, some cute, some creepy. She has saved Equestria a bunch of times, she’s a hero. So why does she feel so bad?
The picnic was great sure, but when she’s alone trying to take a small nap on a cloud, like now, she can’t help but feel down.
Nothing ever gets Dash down. Nothing. But ever since Anon started talking about finding somepony to date, and said that really confusing thing about dating HIM. She has felt...tight. Like a Minotaur was stepping on her bare chest. It’s not like this was the first time she felt weird when it came to anon.
The first time was in Saddle Arabia. When Anon came on their adventure together around 6 months ago. They had to face against the villainous Brass Bull and his stone army. At that point, he had already begun storming across Saddle Arabia and would storm into Equestria if Rainbow and the girls didn’t try to stop him.
When they had confronted the brass bull, he fought them. He was stronger than any other opponent they faced and easily tossed even AJ aside and sent Rainbow plummeting into the sry sand. It seemed hopeless. The hot sand near the burning sun. The red hot metal of the brass bull, he burnt anything that touched him or he touched. When rainbow flew above him he had jumped and grabbed her leg throwing her to the ground. Her fur was almost burnt off and her leg muscles were in the worst shape. As she tumbled in the sand she heard a terrifying sound. The Brass Bull’s roar, and the trampling that neared got closer with every step. Before she could scramble away she saw something she would never forget.
Anon had jumped in and grabbed the bull by the horns, slowing his charge. He gasped out in pain as one of the horns broke from his hand and dug into his side. Anon wouldn’t give ground and halted the bull then and there. Just in time for the girls to rally behind him. He stood there in pain but refused to let the brass bull move. The bull struggled to move but anon kept it there somehow. Just in time for the girls to blast it and save Equestria.
It was lucky that Twilight knew healing magic, Anon could have...
Her head swipes off that recollection. She doesn’t like that thought. Ever since then she kept feeling weird about Anon. He showed a different side, one that was cool and awesome. Ever since then she kept thinking about how cool and awesome he really is. He can be pretty sappy sometimes but she feels light and energized when she thinks about some of the cool things he’s done. The whole love thing and whatnot is the worst of it. The thought of him dating another...
WAIT. RAINBOW DASH DOES NOT GET JEALOUS. THIS ISN’T JEALOUSY. Relationships are just weird to her, that’s all. She would act the same to any of her friends dating someone. She’s...just... protective is all.
There is no way she would be jealous of Anon, or have any sort of feelings. Feelings and Jealousy are for Lame-os and Eggheads.
She’s just protective.
“Better make sure no one gets too...uh... touchy at the Singles party with anon.” She said, “Yeah! Just helping a friend out.”
Yeah. “Help.”