//------------------------------// // Night of the second day // Story: Earth and Sky // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// "You ever do that again, and I know at least one griffyn that would love to meet you." I'm pretty sure that threatening Angel is useless, but it still helped me vent. And I have a fair amount of venting to do. He interrupted the single most romantic moment in my life! At least, I think it was romantic. That's it! From now on, anything Mac and I do that makes me feel all fluttery and weird inside is romantic, whether it is or not. "WHACKK!!" "OW! Hey!" I stopped walking for a second and that devil bunny whacked me with the paper. "I know how to get to Fluttershy's, ok?" I don't need a guide. "WHACKK!!" "OW! What was that one for?!" I didn't even stop that time. He must have just felt like it. This is why I don't spend more time with Fluttershy. I continued walking for a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes before he whacked me again. "What now?" The devil named Angel hopped in front of me and pointed with the rolled-up paper. I looked in the direction he indicated just to see the bridge to Fluttershy's cottage. "If I had a paper of my own, I would whack you." He twitched his nose once and hopped over to the bridge, taking up a guard stance beside it. You know, I hate to admit it, but with his little helmet and the rolled-up paper over his shoulder, he's kind of cute. When I walked past him, he even saluted. As I crossed the bridge, I could see Pete and Fluttershy talking to each other. At one point, Pete lifted his hoof. Attached to it, was a long, shiny steel chain. When I got closer, I could see that it was attached to another pony sitting a short distance away. I felt a knot form in my stomach when I recognized him. It was the green earth pony from the park. What is he doing here? I'm glad its not one of the other two, but why isn't he in prison, or a dungeon, or a prison in a dungeon, or wherever it is that Ponyville puts its criminals? Pete saw me and motioned for the green pony to go into the cottage. Then he said a few last words to Fluttershy before going in as well. Fluttershy stayed where she was and waved for me to come over. I didn't really want to, but I did. "Why is he here?" I asked as I sat near Fluttershy. Fluttershy glanced at the cottage door. "Who, Wishy Washy?" "No, Pete," I said with heavy sarcasm. "Oh." And the sarcasm went straight over her head. "Well, Pete kind of lives here, you know." What?! No, I didn't know. How long have these two been together? For Fluttershy to get over her apprehensive nature enough to move in with him, or rather, to let him move in with her is no small accomplishment. I wonder if Mac and I will ever move in together. It would have to be at the farm, since Mac can't fly. It could be someplace else on the ground, of course, but I kinda like the idea of staying at Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe we could even- Wait! No! It's only been two days! It's way too early to be thinking about moving in together. "Hey, Fluttershy, how long were you and Pete together before he moved in with you?" "Oh," she put a hoof to her chin, "I don't know." Knowing her, I bet it was a really long time. "About a week or so, I guess." See? A really long ti- WHA-WAIT-WHAT?! A WEEK?! She continued on like what she said was of no consequence. "Though you really can't count the first month. And the second one was crazy too, but after all that ended, it was a pretty good year for us." "A-a year?" You've had somepony living in your house for a year, and I only met him yesterday? How is that even possible?! "Why do you want to know?" She tilted her head and gave me the same smile she was wearing at the spa. "Are you planning a change of address anytime soon?" She's been spending too much time around Rarity. "No, I was just curious." It might actually be nice to live at the farm, but I'd rather discuss it with Mac on my own time. "So, why is this Wishy Washy pony here? And what's with the chain?" Fluttershy let out a long, low sigh. "It's called protective custody." Ponyville only has one jail cell, so all three ponies from the night you were attacked had to share." "So? They seemed friendly enough with each other." Not really, those other two weren't too happy with the green one. Fluttershy was quiet for a moment. "Rainbow, how much do you know about Equestrian arrest procedure?" An involuntary grimace crossed my face. "Oh, my," Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth, "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Yeah, I've gotten into a spot of trouble here and there. No big deal really, Cloudsdale used to be really strict on trespassing in airspace. That's one of the things I like about Ponyville, airspace isn't considered property. "Since you know, I'll get right to the point. Wishy's brother's told the judge that you and Mac attacked them." WHAT?! Those filthy, rotten- "There's more, one of them had an injury to his face consistent with a wing-strike." That would be the earth pony that I knocked out. "He said that Pete roughed him up after the arrest." Why that pathetic little- He just doesn't want to admit that he got taken out by a girl. "Because Pete and Mac are friends, the judge was about to launch an investigation." "Let'em investigate!" We did nothing wrong. "They attacked me and they- "And how many ponies saw it?" I didn't think of that. "None." The park was completely empty. It's our word against theirs. "Then it's two against three. When does the investigation start?" "There isn't going to be one." "What? But you just said-" Fluttershy let out a giggle. "You didn't let me finish. The judge was going to launch an investigation, but Wishy pleaded guilty. He told the judge what happened." Then why is he here? "Did he try to deal?" Fluttershy shook her head. "No, he didn't. But his brothers beat him once they were back in their cell. So we went to the judge to see if there was anything we could do. That ended up with him here, chained to Pete. Officially, he's under protective custody, but tomorrow, he's going to be put on probation and sent to stay with a friend of ours in another city." His own brothers? Come to think of it, Mac said that Wishy's brothers dragged him into it. And he sounded like it wasn't completely unexpected. "Oh!" Fluttershy suddenly hopped into the air and flew to the roof of her cottage. I kinda wish she wouldn't do that in front of- Oh, awkward! She's talking to that eagle! I hope he doesn't see me. He must not have, because he flew off after a minute or two. If he had seen me, he would have tried to get my attention. Just one more reason that I've been avoiding Fluttershy's place lately. But the main reason is Angel. Speaking of which, "Hey, Fluttershy!" I had to yell at her because she was still on her roof. "You want to come down so we can finish talking?" She nodded and flew down. "Hey, I'm curious, does Angel give Pete a hard time like he does for me?" Also, I'm jealous of the fact that you're able to fly and I'm not. She ducked her head a little. "Um," she doesn't really look like she wants to answer, "no." "Why not?" All that bunny ever wants to do when I'm around is pelt me with the nearest food item. Fluttershy started hiding her face behind her mane. "I- uh, can we not talk about that? Ever? I mean, um, if that's all right with you?" "Ok." Now I'm even more curious. "So, why did you want to see me? The note you left said you had something to talk to me about." She lifted her head and brushed away her mane. "Right, I wanted to apologize for my actions at the spa, and Pete's as well. We shouldn't have given you such a hard time." "Ah, forget about it, what's done is done." You actually made it kind of fun. "I just want to know why you did it." "Well," Fluttershy started shuffling her hooves around, "I didn't want you to feel like you had to hide your feelings about Mac." "I wasn't hiding my feelings." I think I said that a little too quickly. "But I may be keeping a few details quiet." Fluttershy let out an extremely hollow, forced laugh and started turning away from me. "Uh, Fluttershy? You ok there?" "Eh?" She snapped her head back to face me. "Whyever would you ask that?" Maybe because you're acting like a manticore on catnip? "Anyway, I just didn't want anypony to know that I went to the spa of my own free will." With a sigh, I added, "Pinkie figured it out though." Fluttershy nodded solemnly. "She does seem unnaturally able to figure out things we would rather keep secret. I suppose that's why she's so adamant about keeping promises." Fluttershy and I apparently had the same thought, because at that moment, we both started looking around. "That's odd," said Fluttershy. "Yeah, I know." No sign of pink anywhere. Fluttershy let out a small laugh. "We must be getting paranoid. I was expecting Pinkie to pop out of nowhere and shout the word forever at us." "I wasn't going to, but I could if you want me to." "GYAHH!" I don't know if that was me or Fluttershy that screamed, but I'm gonna guess it was both of us. I turned around to face the seemingly omnipresent Pinkie. "What are you doing here?" I wonder if it's still called paranoia if there's a good reason for it, because Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. She was behind me. I know she was. "I came to throw a congratulations for getting out of jail party for Wishy Washy!" Up! She's above me! "Pinkie," Fluttershy was looking around for any sign of the party pony, same as I was, "I don't think that's such a good idea, he has to travel tomorrow morning, so he needs to get some sleep." "Oh, ok! When he gets back then, but I still need to thank him for the wonderful new paint job on Sugarcube Corner." To the left? I don't see her. And the voice sounds kind of far away. "He did a really good job on it, even though it looks just like the old paint job, but that's what the cakes asked for, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but then why did they even-" "CRACKK!!" "WHOAA!!" "CRASH!!" "Pinkie!" She must have been in a tree and fallen! "Are you okay?!" "Yup, that's definitely broken. I'll be fine, don't worry." She just broke something, and she's telling us not to worry?! "Pinkie, are you crazy?! We need to get you to the hospital!" Fluttershy was already running towards the spot where Pinkie's voice was coming from and I followed immediately behind her. After a good ten minutes of searching, we found the spot where she had fallen. At least, we assumed it was. The broken tree branch, Pinkie-shaped hole in the ground, and a sticky note on a rock saying, "see you tomorrow," were pretty good indicators, but with Pinkie, you can never be too sure. "Um," Fluttershy peered down the hole, "I don't see her, I'm going to go see Twilight and get her to locate Pinkie with a spell or something." "Yeah." How did Pinkie get away so quickly after breaking something? "You might want to check the hospital too." Fluttershy gave me an odd look and I shrugged it off. 'You never know, she might already be there for all we know?" Fluttershy nodded. "Ok, I'm going to go then." She got ready to take off, but before she did, she looked over at me. "Before I forget, Pete and I need you and Mac meet us at town hall at eight-thirty. Rarity will give you the details tomorrow." With that, she took off, leaving me to wonder what she meant. Oh well, looks like I'll find out tomorrow. I made my way out of the trees and started the walk back towards town to help look for pinkie. At the bridge, Angel stopped me to give me a folded up sticky note. It read, "BTW, I meant the tree branch." Of course she did. Now Fluttershy's going to be flying around all night for nothing. There's no way I can catch up with her, so I gave the note back to Angel. He started hopping towards the cottage and I headed towards the farm. Once I reached the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, I hopped the fence so I could walk through the orchard. The moon was high and bright, and even though it wasn't completely full like it was yesterday, it still provided enough light to see by. As I walked, I thought about everything that had happened in the last day or so, Mac and I made it through our first and hopefully last big misunderstanding, I patched things up with Fluttershy, and the rest of my friends were ok with Me and Mac being together. Some more ok than the others, but Pinkie will be Pinkie. And I get to take the bandages off and stretch my wings tomorrow. I still can't fly till the day after but hey, it's a start. But best of all, things are starting to become less and less awkward between me and Mac. Sure, there are some weird moments here and there, but I'm really getting used to this. When I reached the barn, I didn't go in. Instead, I sat down outside and stared at the moon. How used to this am I going to get? Pete and Fluttershy moved in together, will Mac and I ever do the same? What happens if things don't work out? I mean, we are pretty different. But we're also a lot alike in certain ways. What happens if things go well? How will things change if I stay? I don't know, but I want to find out. I got up and walked into the barn. Mac was still awake and sitting on the mattress. He was staring at a small electric lantern and hadn't seen me come in. I wonder if granny gave him the lantern? Wait a minute. There's only one mattress. Granny doesn't expect us to share, does she? I mean, sure, we were laying together last night, and the nap on the hay-bale, but this? This just seems a little, different, I guess? Though, not in a completely bad way, just a way I don't think I'm ready for. Mac looked up I sat down next to the mattress. "Uh, hey," I said with a slightly forced smile, "guess what, Fluttershy apologized for the spa thing earlier and wants us to meet her and Pete at town hall tomorrow at-" I stopped. Mac was sitting there, shifting his gaze back and forth between me and the floor and fidgeting his front hooves. "What is it Mac?" He took a deep breath and patted the mattress next to him. "We need ta talk." "Ok." I climbed up on the mattress. I guess it's not too weird if we're talking. "What do you want talk about?" He forced himself into a sitting position. Turning to face me,he put a hoof on my shoulder. "Rainbow, Ah love ya. I want ya to know that Ah'll always love ya." His voice was shaky and he had to force himself to look me in the eyes. "A-and Ah know ya love me, ya told me. And whatever happens, Ah'll be there. B-but Ah need to know that yer sure about this. A-ah think yer the one, and Ah can't imagine it bein' anypony else, but am Ah the one fer you? Can ya see yerself stayin' here, with me?" Why is he saying this all of a sudden, and why is he so nervous? Should I be worried? "Mac?" I inched closer to him. "Ah just think that it's a might bit soon," he inched away. Why is he moving away? You're scaring me Mac. "Is there a reason you don't want to be close to me?" He started sweating. "Uh, no, heh, Ah want to be close to you. Uh, but Ah know how Granny is, and your friends today seemed uh," What do granny and my friends have to do with you not sitting next to me? "And Ah If we're gonna be close, Ah want it to be cause it's what you want and not because yer feelin' pressured." "I'm not feeling pressured, It's what I want." What would I be pressured about? You're not making sense. Did they give you painkillers or something. "Yer not?" He started sweating more. "Of course not, why would I feel pressured?" "Ah still think its a might bit soon, Ah mean we've been together all of what, 24 hours? Maybe a little more? Ah just want to make sure ya thought it through." I sighed, "It was a good 24 hours, and I've thought about it a lot. You've made me very happy and I don't see why you're so nervous." I scooted over until we were touching shoulder to shoulder,"what's the problem?" "It's just, Ah've never done anythin' like this before." he put his chin on top of my head. "But if it's what ya want, Ah'll try. Ah just think we should go slow. We ain't even kissed yet." He lowered his head and looked me in the eye. "Don't ya want to try that first?" "Why would we kiss first? We can try that later." First, I want to know what the hay you're talking about. "Oh, wow," he started scratching the back of his neck, "um, Ah just thought that's how it went, ya know? Holding hooves, then kissing, marriage, and then-" He shrugged. Marriage?! "Mac, what is this even about?" I haven't understood a single word you said since I got back from Fluttershy's. "That book," he said matter-of-factly. I blinked. "What book?" "The one ya bought today, Ah found it in the shoppin' bag ya dropped." "I didn't buy a book today." His eyes went wide. "Ya borrowed that?! Who from?" There was a slight pause before he threw his front hooves in the air and started waving them wildly. "No! Don't tell me, Ah don't want to know." "I didn't borrow a book either. All my bits are locked in my house, I couldn't go shopping if I wanted to. The only bag I had was the one the hospital gave me." Mac started nodding slowly. "Ah guess it makes sense that the hospital would have something like that." At least something does. I mean, what's the big deal? "Where is this book anyway?" "There," he pointed to the far end of the barn. "Where?" I don't see it. "Ah tossed it over that away. Ah may have, um, gotten a little carried away. That fifth page was kind of surprisin', and Ah may have, um," he tapped his front hooves together a few times, "overreacted?" With his front hooves in the air, Mac was unable to support himself for very long and fell to the mattress. "Sorry, Ah should be walkin' by tomorrow, but fer now, Ah'm a little wobbly. See? That's another reason why we oughtta wait. Give me a couple months to recover fully?" What does he mean, "overreacted?" And wait for what? And he just said he was going to be fine tomorrow. What is going on?! Giving up on getting any answers out of Mac, I walked over to the wall he indicated and started looking for the book. I couldn't find it though, I even checked behind tools and stuff to make sure it hadn't fallen behind anything, but it just didn't seem to be anywhere. And, I'm getting tired. I've been up all day, I woke up earlier than usual, I worked the farm, and then there was all the craziness the rest off the day. I let out a yawn. Couldn't help it, I was really, really tired. When I did so, I happened to glance up. There, embedded in the wall about 9 hooves up, was what appeared to be a brown and blue book. Ok, my exhaustion has officially been replaced by curiosity. What could have made Mac throw the book so hard that it broke the wall? I couldn't just fly up to get the thing, so I had to rely on the sort of tactics AJ would resort to. I spun on the spot and kicked out my rear legs. Bad move on my part. I was expecting a light thump and a falling book. What I got, was a loud crack and a falling wall. The whole section of wall, not the whole thing, mind you, but a good chunk of it, just fell right over. Good news-bad news situation here. I could now reach the book, but even using the winch, I don't think I can repair this on my own, especially at night and without my wings. And it wasn't this cold and windy earlier. With a fair amount of effort, I pried the book from it's splintered resting place. Amazingly, the book didn't appear to be damaged. A little scuffed, but no tears, broken spine, or anything like that. Book in mouth, I headed back over to where Mac was sitting. I set the book down first so I could apologize for breaking the wall, but Mac put up a hoof to stop me. "Ah shoulda told ya, that there wall used to be a cargo door. It ain't been top of the list for repairs lately and was gettin' ta be in pretty poor shape." ***------------ "Well, I'll still help you fix it." She sat down next to me. I started to move away from her, to give her a little space. No. I stopped myself and moved back towards her. I said I would be there for her, and I will be. If this is what she wants, then- Oh, I still think we should wait, but if this is what she wants, then I'll be there for her. She snuggled into my side and started flipping through the book. She started reading out the sections of the book as she went. "Introduction page. Differences between Pegasi and earth ponies. Massages? Hey this could help your back. Let's see- OH. WOW." I glanced over. She was on the page that caught me by surprise earlier. But why is she acting so surprised? It's her book, isn't it? But the way she's acting- Oh, applesauce and hay fritters. What if it isn't? The hospital's given me flyers and pamphlets before without me asking, so what if they did the same thing here? Oh, I'm so sorry Rainbow. She stared straight ahead of her as she slowly closed the book and set it down. "Diagrams, huh?" "Eeyup." She nodded. "They make it sound so technical and-" It must have started to sink in, because she started to shrink in on herself. "And you thought I- And that we- And I said-" "Eeyup." I don't think she was quite sure what to say there, but I got the point. I feel really stupid right about now. She scooted across to the opposite side of the bed. "Holding hooves sounds good, let's start there and forget the book even exists." "Eeyup." A particularly strong draft chose that moment to blow through. She shivered. "It's cold in here." "Eeyup." It always gets cold at night. That big ol' hole ain't gonna help any. She let out a groan. "Granny didn't give us any blankets, did she?" "Nnope." I think I see where this is headed. She dropped her head to the mattress. "There's no way for this to not be akward, is there?" "Nnope." "It's still cold." "Eeyup." She started to inch towards me. "No." She moved back away, shaking her head as she moved. "I can't do it. Not after-" She took a few breaths before continuing. "Mac, everything that's happened between us, doesn't it seem like it's gone a little fast? I mean, I thought I wanted to see where this went, but now that I think about it, I- I don't know. I don't know what to do. You said that I was the one, is that what you see? When you look at me, can you see us together, getting married, having foals, and being a family? I can't see it. It's not who I am. I just can't see that far ahead. When something's in front of me, I have to deal with it immediately, but this is too much for me. Mac, I can't deal with this now. I don't know if I ever can." This isn't going to be the thing that tears us apart, is it? Some stupid misunderstanding over a book that neither of us even wanted to see? I don't want this to end like that. It took some effort, but I moved over to Rainbow's side. "Ya ain't usin' this empty spot here, are ya?" Bad joke, I know, but I'm just trying to put her at ease. "M-Mac?" Apparently, it didn't work. "I'm sorry, but I- I can't." She turned away from me. "I can't look at you without thinking about, well-" "Then think about it." She turned around with a look of shock on her face. What I just said might have scared her, but her own thoughts were scarin' her just as much. I pulled her into a hug just as she opened her mouth to say something. "Shh-shh. Hold on. Now, yer scared thinking about the future and what's gonna happen between us, so Ah'll tell ya exactly what's gonna happen. In one year, Ah'm gonna ask ya a question. It's gonna be an important question and yer gonna answer it. Then we can think about the future, the stuff in that book, and all those other things. Until then, you and Ah are just two ponies havin' fun and livin' day-by-day. No thoughts of what time may bring, no expectations, and no bein' afraid." I could feel tears running down my chest as Rainbow pulled her face against my fur. "Th-thanks, Mac." The voice was muffled, but it was enough. I let out a sigh of relief as I relaxed. Unfortunately, being tense was the only thing keeping me upright as my back legs were still pretty numb from the muscle relaxer. Rainbow let out a squeak as we once again crashed to the mattress, side-by-side this time. Not wanting to upset her any further, I tried to roll over, but Rainbow was laying on my hoof and made no move to get off. She was laying still and looking at her hooves which were sitting against my chest. "This is still awkward." She looked up with a little smile. "But if it's gotta be akward, I'm glad it's with you." I put my free hoof around her as she pressed herself up against me. "So am Ah Rainbow, so am Ah. Say, ain't it cold up in the air? like when ya sleep on clouds and stuff?" She let out a little giggle."Sometimes, but clouds trap the air around you, so they hold heat, it's like being wrapped up in the biggest, fluffiest blanket you can imagine. It's really comfortable." Seems like she's comfortable now. "Ah never had ya pegged fer the type to like fluffy stuff." "Hey!" she said with mock indignation, "anypony can like a fluffy blanket. Besides," I felt her shrug, "you're fluffy, and I like you." I couldn't help but laugh at that, nopony's ever called me fluffy before. "Looks like Ah'm just a big, fluffy blanket now, ain't Ah?" She let out a yawn. "The biggest, fluffiest one I can imagine."