//------------------------------// // Chapter 07 // Story: Memory Pending // by Kiroberos //------------------------------// Dancing lights filled the sky. They were the glare of blast refractions off of our planetary ring. Starlight slipping through drops of the last rain as well.. Vehicle lights cutting through that perpetual night, which was the last one before they burned our sky. This was the theme for tonight’s delve into memories it seemed. They typically ran in themes, I noticed. Maybe it had something to do with what I was doing prior to sleeping? It was strange, knowing you were dreaming because you were forced to view your memories from a disassociated third person perspective. It was definitely our last rain, I recalled. Everyone was dead now, right? Nobody left to turn the water back on. Hope the last one to leave turned out the lights. Oh wait. That would technically be me, wouldn't it? Last, as usual. I vaguely remember that being a running theme of my prior life. But why did it matter if I died before being transported or the act of dying transported me? I was alive now wasn't I? Even if I couldn't remember the exact transition, that had to count for something. Lines were as abundant as panic by the end, I think I recall. I watched myself standing in one in the memory. There was a strange abstraction to the dream. I knew it was me but I couldn't see my own form. My mind substituted everyone as ponies, which wasn't altogether bad I suppose. Absently, I read a sign that was on the building the line lead to. 'Survive, even if you don't!' It was catchy at the time as far as slogans go, for a breeding clinic anyway. The irony is a little uncomfortable now. But that doesn't matter. Not prime material, right? It meant, mostly, not enough credits. Always used to laugh at the well off because I had my values, right? Ideals were more important than life. Than continuation. Why did I even try to come here during that last rain? Fear? Hopelessness? Obviously, I wasn't the only one of course. And I, well, think I can remember trying a time before but my memories seemed just out of reach. "Kha. And, mmh, falling!" Yeah, the planets fell one after another. My viewpoint shifted to some sort of news channel. It was never good, with the best being bleak starvation cases instead of all out attacks and genocide. Planets themselves were targeted in some cases; being destabilized, irradiated, blown up entirely... The lucky ones just suffered mass murder and climate collapse. Hell, at least you could use the drifting chunk of rock again after that. "I'll, no! Catch..." Huh? * * * * * Wham! A cyan hoof collided with my snout and figurative stars exploded into my vision, replacing my dream ones. Yelping, I snapped back away from the blow and held my muzzle with both hooves. Fluttershy, apparently curled in a ball in the recliner across from me now, woke with a start and looked around. My head spun from the force of the collision and I momentarily felt extremely nauseous. Son of a bitch that hurt! Pulling my right forehoof back, I sighed weakly as I discovered fresh blood on the surface of it. Fluttershy's eyes widened at my muzzle, at the same time that mine narrowed at Rainbow Dash who was sprawled on her side in front of me, powerful hind legs kicking and thrashing in her sleep. Damn her! Even subconsciously she loved to hurt me. Wait, why the hell was she where Fluttershy used to be? Both fillies were also gone but I had just assumed Rarity had taken them with when she left. Looking about the room blearily, a headache flared up in full force. A soft, morning light came through the windows and I realized I must have slept through the entire night. Fluttershy landed next to me rapidly, interrupting my thoughts, and had a couple napkins in her mouth from last night's party. Her tongue deftly rotated the folded paper and she pushed them hard against my muzzle, applying pressure. After they were adjusted, she reached up and held them there with her right forehoof, then leaned back and smiled at her work. Her eyes were focused, examining as if a doctor. She seemed like she was good at taking care of injuries. Being a light shade of pink by then, I tried not to consider that she technically kissed me through the paper of course. My blush got stronger but I managed a sheepish smile, anyway. "Th-Thank you, Fluttershy," I added upon recovering my voice. She didn't have hands, so how else was she supposed to do it? I had to start getting adjusted to my new culture to get over this awkwardness. She blushed as well and nodded. "Gotta, mmph, save you," Rainbow Dash muttered, interrupting us. Her wings were twitching lightly in her sleep and I wondered if she was flying in her dream. Saving someone, huh? Well, somepony. I reminded myself about culture again and managed to smile at her. "She sometimes talks in her sleep," Fluttershy commented, watching her as well. At first I thought it was an obvious observation but then I realized that it had meant this wasn't the first time Fluttershy had heard her. I nodded and pondered out loud, "It sounds like she's trying to save somepony from falling." Or just hurrying to get to somepony, I supposed. I'm assuming she was faster flying than running. Well, she was dang fast at flying and a pony would probably break their legs trying to run that fast. Yeah, that was a fairly safe assumption, I decided. Fluttershy considered it for a few seconds. "It might be a memory of saving Rarity at the Best Young Fliers Competition," she offered, sailing it right over my head. It must be a pegasi event which, not so oddly, made sense. She giggled when I gave her a look of confusion. "It takes place outside of Cloudsdale, which is a pegasi city that floats way up in the sky. Twilight gave the non-pegasi friends we have magic so they could watch Dash compete. Rarity ended up falling though, and Rainbow Dash barely pulled off a Sonic Rainboom to save her," she summarized. "Sonic Rainboom?" I questioned, tilting my head towards her. It sounded like a strange portmanteau of 'sonic boom' and 'rainbow'. I wonder if that's too obvious though, reminding myself to try my hardest not to jump to conclusions. Fluttershy suddenly started squirming and got a giddy look on her face. "Oh! They're so cool! She gets going really, really fast and all of a sudden, bam! There's an explosion of rainbow colors and light and she goes faster than the eye can see. Only Rainbow Dash can do it. It's amazing," she started rapidly gushing out. She caught herself seconds later and blushed, raising a hoof to her mouth. I was suddenly struck by how adorable she was, yet again. I held a hoof up, to stop the likely incoming apology and shook my head weakly. "I don't mind you getting excited. It's actually really cute and nice to see," I explained quietly. Her eyes widened for a few seconds, then softened. She nodded and smiled wider, starting to say something but was once again interrupted. "Mmph, got ya, AJ," Rainbow Dash suddenly mumbled weakly, curling up in her sleep and rolling onto her side, facing the back of the couch. Oh, it was AJ, not Rarity? Applejack. I sighed weakly. "She must be dreaming about Applejack, instead," I pointed out, trying to distract from my momentarily sour expression I noticed I flickered to. Maybe that should be my goal for today? Attempting to console things with Applejack probably wasn’t going to be easy. Not that distracting Fluttershy from my expression slippage was needed I noticed, as Fluttershy was looking at Rainbow Dash instead. I tilted my head when I noticed the frown she wore. "Um, yeah. I guess she is. Maybe we should give her a little p-privacy?" Fluttershy suggested, after a moment's thought. She suddenly sounded nervous again for some reason. Privacy? Like when I was rudely awoken to being kicked in the face? I didn't voice that of course. "Oh? Wouldn't she like it if we heard her heroics in her dreams?" I asked instead, chuckling lightly at the thought. She seemed to be a rather boastful person, and I don't see how that would be limited from her dreams. "Oh, well uh," Fluttershy started to protest, suddenly looking flustered. I let my smile drop, and raised an eyebrow to her. "What's wrong, Fluttershy?" I asked, starting to get a little concerned. Uh oh, was I missing something again? The desire to have more culture books slipped back into my mind. I didn't have to worry about offending a book. Rainbow giggled lightly though, in a tone I hadn't heard her use before, suddenly. I shifted my attention back to the squirming blue pegasus just as she started again, "Ah, AJ... Here? Oh!" Her voice was lower and in a definitely unfamiliar tone. I'd not really heard anypony speak quite like that so it was hard to describe. Confusion was an understatement as I saw her wings slowly but surely starting to extend, expanding from her sides. Her left just folded sideways along the couch, but her right extended freely into open air. Okay, this was a little weird. Normally her muscles should have limited that much movement during an unconscious state unless it was the byproduct of something else. A nerve reaction of some sort, I guessed. Now I was starting to get intrigued. "Oh dear," Fluttershy muttered in a very soft voice and moved over to Dash before trying to brush her wings down again. Uh oh, was this a bad thing? Well, if her left wing kept expanding, it might hurt itself by being pushed into the couch like that. "What's with her wings?" I asked, trying to give her a hand in flattening them again. I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing of course, but I just tried to follow after what she did. She shook her head rapidly. "It's just a side effect. Uh, nothing to worry about!" she assured a little too quickly. So it was something to worry about? Or had I missed my mark and she was trying to distract me and go with it? "Mmm ah, AJ!" Rainbow added, giggling again and getting a light flush. She wore the makings of a grin now and looked more than a little pleased. Fluttershy made an 'eep' noise, bringing both hooves up to cover her mouth. Wait a second... Privacy? Flush? Giggles? Something clicked in my mind, and my eyes grew wider. The wings must be a side effect of some sort of mating ritual of pegasi! But that meant… They must be a mated pair and haven't announced it officially, yet! The females must almost exclusively mate with each other. Maybe they have magic or technology to help them? Of course! How else must they keep sociological norms? It must be taboo to hear of it before it's announced. Oh no! What if it's so taboo that they don't write of it in history books? Maybe the one I read simply didn't cover that sort of thing. Of course, it didn't cover mating really at all or any of the practices around it. I might have just broken a very grave law in hearing this. They were probably going to execute me now, due to my great shame! "Oh no, please! I've learned my lesson. Please don't kill me," I begged Fluttershy, panicking and flopping down in front of her feet on the couch. Begging for mercy might shame me more, but at least I'd try. She went from panic, to an inspiring visage of confusion, to utter shock in the span of about two seconds. "Um, what?" She asked, blankly. Hmm. Not the reaction I had expected. "Mrawh? Wha? Where am I?" Rainbow Dash asked suddenly, starting and looking around. She immediately noticed Fluttershy who was now looking back at her instead, hooves still on her wings. "What? Ug, again?" She asked her, shaking her head. Whew. That might have just saved me from another faux pas. Fluttershy hesitated for a second before swallowing and adding, "You um, were also talking in your sleep." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and a blush danced across her cheeks as she finally noticed me. I got the jump on it this time. "I-I won't tell anypony, don't worry," I promised as rapidly as I could. Maybe if I were sworn to secrecy, I wouldn't have to be killed? She swallowed and asked, "Tell them what?" She must not have realized I knew. She looked hesitant, and I momentarily thought about lying but decided against it. "About you and Applejack," I furthered, looking away from her. I saw her eyes expand to full size and the pink in her cheeks shifted red. "Wh-What?! I don't know what y-you're talking about! I'm not a Fillyfooler," she protested, looking remarkably similar to how I probably looked while fleeing from carnivorous ponies. Fillyfooler? Filly was a young female pony but I wasn't sure as to the importance of attaching 'fooler' onto it. The most literal interpretation would be a pony that tricked or lied to young female ponies. "Thank you for keeping it a secret. You took much less time to figure it out than I did," Fluttershy interrupted, catching her breath and sounding a bit calmer. Rainbow Dash shot her a glare. "Fluttershy! You said you'd keep the crush a secret! You Pinkie Pie swore," she berated irritably. Crush? Whoops. Not a mated couple then! I was suddenly glad I had been accidentally vague. So I was more at risk of offending Rainbow Dash's sensibilities, rather than being executed. Of course she might kill me out of spite, so weren't they the same thing? I resisted chuckling at the thought and realized I wasn't entirely serious. I thought higher of the cyan pegasus now than I had a couple days ago it would seem. "He caught on already, Dash. You heard him p-promise not to tell," Fluttershy tried to defend, cowering away from Rainbow. I frowned at the sight and suddenly had the compulsion to not think higher of the cyan pegasus anymore. Rainbow's eyes softened and she looked away from her yellow friend. "I... You're right of course. It's not your fault I was stupid and fell asleep where others could listen," she corrected after a few seconds. I’d thought she wouldn’t stay mad. If what Fluttershy had said about her being her best friend was true, anyway. I frowned and shook my head, interrupting. "You're not stupid. I'm not going to tell anypony about your feelings so no harm is done," I reasoned, looking back up at her. Maybe I could fix this? "Especially not AJ," she appended, still looking apprehensive and sitting up finally. Laughing lightly, I agreed with her. "Even if she didn't think I was insane, I still wouldn't tell her. That's your responsibility." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, but Fluttershy interjected. "I had wondered why she didn't show up last night. This isn't like her," she mused quietly. "Why does she think you're nuts? You seem totally fine every time we've met," Rainbow asked quizzically, blush diminishing. Fluttershy gave her an exasperated look. Accepting her obvious agreement with Fluttershy's topic change, I explained, "I made a bad first impression. Now she kinda thinks I molested Apple Bloom and her two friends, or something." Fluttershy gasped instantly and looked horrified, while Rainbow Dash gave me a surprised look. "How'd ya get her to think something like that?" Dash asked, sounding skeptical at best. "Oh, well when I woke up, I didn't know anything. When I got to town, I didn't see any males so I might have uh, jumped to a few conclusions that lacked basis. You know, like that the females were carnivorous and ate a majority of the males, or that the males were locked away in breeding camps or prisons. Or both. Regardless, I kinda asked her if I was going to one of them or if I were to be assigned to somepony. That was um, the last time I saw her," I retold, gasping for air towards the end. Fluttershy's expression had shifted from shocked horror to just plain shocked as she momentarily made no attempts to hide it. After several seconds, she clapped both forehooves to her face and started blushing again. Rainbow Dash stared in surprise at me for a few seconds as well before making a pained snorting noise, momentarily clamping her front hooves onto her muzzle. It didn't last for very long before she burst out into copious amounts of laughter. Well, that wasn't exactly the reaction I had been expecting. "Wow, you really are nuts!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed between bouts of chortling. "Rainbow!" Fluttershy protested, looking horrified again but at Rainbow this time. Shaking my head, I sighed weakly. "No, she's right of course. I've not been thinking straight since I woke up four days ago. A lot of what I say probably does sound fairly nonsensical," I admitted, looking away from both of them. "That one did, anyway," Dash chimed in bluntly, still laughing. Fluttershy drifted to her right then again and put a hoof reassuringly on my shoulder. "Don't listen to her. You're doing fine. You got a bad hit to the head so it's not your fault, right?" she offered, trying to smile at me. Something seemed off with the way she said it but I nodded. I couldn't exactly give her the real reason why I said weird things. Maybe I should just stop saying stuff? Rainbow Dash snickered however and raised an eyebrow to Fluttershy. "I'm just teasing. Although you seem awfully fond of him," she pointed out, winking at Fluttershy. Fluttershy went bright pink, eyes getting massive as she squeaked again. "W-What?! No, n-no, it's not like th-that at all," she started stuttering, getting more and more quiet again. I blushed too but smiled down at her. Rainbow gave her an amused expression and Fluttershy got really flustered looking, continuing, "It-it's like m-my animals! He's hurt and, um, n-needs help, right? So I c-can nurture and, uh, take c-care of him until h-he's better." I barely heard the last part by the time she was done speaking. It felt like a rather chilly brick had landed on my chest though, and I lost my smile. She was just nurturing me until I'm better? Rainbow Dash snickered and shook her forehooves at her. "Relax, I was just teasing you. I understand," she assured her, before looking back over at me and getting a questioning look, inquiring a moment later, "Er, what happened to your face?" That wasn't really the question I was expecting. I slowly took the napkins off and tested the wounds, absently noting there wasn't any more blood. "It seems to have stopped bleeding, anyway," I muttered, setting the napkins down on the couch. The sudden urge to just escape drifted through my mind and I wondered why I was really that shocked. She didn't like me like that but that didn't mean she wasn't friendly and nice. Did my mind really jump ahead that quickly? Come to think of it, it had done the same with Rainbow Dash last night. Something needed to be done. Why was I doing this? I'd been hanging out with her a lot, sure, but she hadn't made any outward signs of it being more, right? "You okay?" I heard Rainbow ask carefully and I looked up to see her tilting her head at me. Snapping out of it, I nodded quietly to her before folding the napkin up on the couch so the bloody sides were tucked together. More sanitary, I guess. "Yeah, I'm fine. Um, thank you for helping me with the bleeding, Fluttershy," I thanked again, trying to smile at her. I think I managed, anyway. She looked up at me then and nodded timidly, looking unsure of herself. I'd managed to make both of them feel awkward, it seemed. The same thing that happened with Applejack, I think. Maybe it would be best if I took my leave before I put my hoof in my mouth again and made things worse? Every time I mentioned things based off where I was from, it seemed to make everyone uncomfortable. But I guess that kind of made sense. "I think I'm gonna go for a little stroll. Maybe I should talk to Applejack and see if I can clear things up," I excused, standing up carefully on the couch and stepping off it. "Oh, good idea! We can go with you and help ya straighten her out," Rainbow Dash agreed, smiling suddenly and nodding. Swallowing, I rapidly shook my head. No, relying on them to fix my problems didn't sound like a good idea. It would probably just make me look like a leech or something. Of course, I had technically been leeching off both Twilight and Nurse Redheart for the last few days, anyway. I suddenly felt restless and didn't particularly want to impose on anypony anymore. "Ah no, I should probably do this myself. Besides, I don't think I'm going to go straight there, plus I'm a bit of a slow walker," I added, looking back at them over my shoulder. Rainbow Dash's expression was largely unreadable and she just watched me carefully. Fluttershy looked nervous however and was biting her lower lip, looking at the floor towards my feet. Well, I suppose it was better than nothing. I seemed to have a problem getting attached to ponies too quickly and a bit of chilling on my part was probably for the best. "I'll talk to him. Tell Twilight he'll be back later when she wakes up, okay Fluttershy?," Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, looking back over at Fluttershy. There was a brief moment of surprise in both Fluttershy and I, but for apparently different reasons. Fluttershy nodded quietly a second later. I logically asked, "Um, what?" Rainbow Dash responded to neither of us and momentarily flickered out of my line of sight with a wing flap. My eyes widened as I was suddenly rocketed backwards. I immediately felt dizzy as I spun once through the air and then was violently hauled off at high speed into the sky, two cyan hooves around my waist! * * * * * Glancing down again, I shuddered and shifted to the left, trying to keep my careful balance on top of the outstretched wings and legs of the relaxing cyan pegasus. She didn't seem injured at all by my hooves on her wings or on her shins where my rear hooves were. I attempted to remain standing, wobbling carefully as she relaxed on top of the cloud, looking amused. Damn it! As far as I understood, the only solid thing here was her. If I stepped on the cloud, I'd pass through it like air and become a pancake on the ground within seconds. She'd held me captive up here for almost ten minutes now, not saying a word no matter how much I asked her not to kill me. Or more aptly, let me die from falling, I suppose. She did look absolutely entertained, however. Getting frustrated, I finally asked her, "Okay, fine. You're obviously not trying to kill me directly. What is it that you want?" Rainbow Dash's rose-red eyes opened up, and her smirk shifted to extremely mirthful instead. "Finally, you calmed down. I told you, you're a friend. I'm not about to let a friend get hurt," she explained. Looking off the side of the cloud again, I swallowed as I saw the spotted trees below me. They were nice and orderly, in lines. An apple grove, maybe? The spots were red, so I could only assume apple trees, anyway. "Then why are we like, a mile off the ground and residing in a place I can't physically stand on?" I asked, not quite getting the joke as I wobbled again. She giggled and shook her head slowly, as if disappointed. "Well it shows you that you can trust me for one. It's also a pretty nice view. It's my favorite spot and I come here a lot to think. Lastly, you certainly can't run away up here, right?" she reasoned, tilting her head. The movement caused me to wobble again and my eyes widened. "Okay, okay. I get it. You're not trying to kill me. Just scare me until I pee all over the place," I accepted, swallowing and looking at anything but the ground. Dash's eyes narrowed, and she warned, "You'd better not pee on me. Besides, something was wrong, so I figured you could talk about it." "Does it have to involve being a fatal distance from the ground?" I asked skeptically. "Of course. You can't get away now. Plus, it's just a quick drop to see AJ afterwards, right?" she reminded, causing me to grit my teeth. Quick drop indeed. Pity for the sudden stop at the end. I sighed and tried not to be irritated. "That's the real reason this is your favorite spot, right?" I deduced, raising my eyebrow slowly at her. If she was dead set on making me uncomfortable, I could at least return the favor. She blushed lightly and looked away from me again. "I'm not a love struck little filly, you know. It's just a, well, crush," she denied, suddenly looking a little sad. "If it's just a crush, why don't you just tell her? If you truly don't have that much invested in it," I pointed out, straightening my legs out a bit to try to lock my joints. My muscles were getting quite a bit tired at this point. I had been standing up on Rainbow Dash for almost fifteen minutes now. Her glare returned but she didn't say anything. She wasn't even looking at me. It almost seemed she was angrier with herself than at me for saying it. She had more invested in this than a crush, it looked like. I didn't need to jump to conclusions to see that. "I just don't want to ruin our friendship. I'm not really a, well, fillyfooler. It's just AJ, I guess," she tried to explain, sounding frustrated at her inability to properly describe it. There was that word again. "I'm sorry. I don't know what a fillyfooler is," I informed, sighing weakly. My anger was fading fast by now. It was hard to stay mad at somepony who you honestly knew had your best interest at heart. I just wish she would be less blunt about things. Oh, and not carry me away to potentially lethal areas just to have a discussion. She narrowed her eyes at me for a second but gradually let them soften a second later. "I forgot about the amnesia thing. I won't stand for teasing, but you really don't know do you?" she asked, looking quietly at my face. I shook my head as carefully as I could, both to convey the correct feeling and to not rock myself off my very unstable perch. She watched me for a few more seconds before nodding. "It's a filly or mare that 'fools around' with other females," she explained, in an uncharacteristically quiet manner. Oh. "Well that makes more sense than what I was considering. Um, to clarify, 'fooling around' is sex or mating, right?" I requested. She went pink instantly and to my surprise, shook her head. Then, a few seconds later, frowned. "Well, it can and does include that, but its love, as well," she corrected. "Well that seems easy enough to justify. Why hide it?" I asked, somewhat confused as to her reaction now. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked surprised about something, but shrugged. "Well it's not really frowned upon, but it's not something everypony likes, either. I guess I just don't like ponies just assuming that about me," she elaborated, huffing towards the end. They assumed that about her? I was probably missing something due to my lack of memories but decided it really didn't matter all that much. I chuckled and nodded. "Well if it's any consolation, I didn't assume anything about your sexuality. Although it wasn't really foremost on my mind, admittedly," I assured. Well, except for when I noticed how cute she was, but that also didn't matter, I reminded myself. Rainbow rolled her eyes but smirked regardless. "Well I didn't assume you were crazy either, for what it's worth," she countered, now amused. Well, I guess that's a good thing, anyway. Wait. Hey! "So you do now, right?" I asked, giving a playful glare at her. "Heh, after that little comment back there, I'm considering it," she informed, giving me a wink in return. Okay, so she was still a brat but I could deal with that. I laughed and looked around at the clouds, suddenly getting a chill. It really was pretty up here. Pretty cold too, but pretty. The clouds were so white and pure looking. "Hey, I'm curious. What did you think Fillyfooler was?" Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, still wearing that amused smirk. Blushing, I sighed weakly. "A mare secret agent," I replied, waiting for it. Right on cue, she snorted sharply and then burst into laughter. At first, I was annoyed but after a few seconds, I noticed she wasn't laughing at me but over the notion. She was amused, not considering less of me. I started to laugh as well. Then we both laughed more because of each other's laughs. Soon it was hard to breath and I was wiping tears from my eyes with a hoof. Then, of course, she absently rolled over to hold her forehooves to her mouth, almost attempting to hold in the giggling. My world inverted as I tipped off her, still hearing her laughter. Damn it. * * * * * Sneezing abruptly, I watched flecks and straws of hay drift away from my face. I was greeted by the upside down view of the inside of a barn loft, it looked like. Hay was all around me and I lay on my back in it, apparently on my head. Well, what else was new? Falling was slow and gentle. It was kind of relaxing once I got over my 'oh crap' moment. I guess what they say about it being the abrupt stop at the end that kills you was reasonably true. The fall itself was fairly all right. Now I knew for certain though. Rainbow Dash, while airborne, is a monster of velocity and speed. Those wings were way stronger than they appeared to be and she was far faster than what she should be capable of. She caught up with me, despite me having a significant head start, and managed to snatch me out of the air as I fell. I have no idea what happened after that until the point where I landed rather roughly in this hay pile. It happened way too quickly, but I vaguely recall lots of rolling after we hit something rather hard. She didn't have enough time to pull up after catching me and we must have hit this barn at an angle. Wincing, I rolled forwards, my butt coming down first, and plopped onto the wooden platform, now looking at the hay pile that had been a very nice cushion. Well, I was reasonably unscathed after that mess, surprisingly. A part of me had secretly wished she wouldn't catch me in time, I felt. Sighing, I shook the thought out of my head. Plus, at the speed she was going to catch up, the stubborn pegasus probably would have cratered herself into the ground after me, refusing to just let me fall. A light groan sounded from behind me and to the right. Glancing backwards, I noticed a tangled mix of ropes, pulleys, and a blue coat starting to stir and wobble about. Raising my eyebrow, I saw she was getting tied up in the rope as she tried to get out further, it wrapping around her left wing and between several of her legs. Standing shakily, I made my way over to her and started lightly tugging the heavy coil off her wings and away from her face. Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times, eyes probably full of dust from the barn and looked up at me. "Whew. You're all right. That was, uh. No, what I meant was I had it totally under control, of course. You didn't have a thing to be scared of," she assured, giving me a self-assured smirk. I'd seen it coming and just chuckled at her, helping her pull the ropes off herself. We struggled for a good two minutes trying to get the mess off her wings without hurting them. I made a mental note that the base of them was quite sensitive, it seemed. I noticed that she appeared to be tied up in a pulley system. The individual pulleys each had a locking hook and two grooves, as well as a clasp attached to the tops. Strangely, they looked brand new. My eyes widened as I realized I knew how these functioned. A basic series of pulleys formed a block and tackle system. The rope was fed around the pulleys twice and then attached to the lower pulley. The other end was then drawn back, probably with a redirection pulley from the ceiling, and used to lift things. My head started to hurt as it ran the mechanical advantage to friction equations out of almost instinct. "Earth to blue pony? Can you unwrap my forelegs?" Dash suddenly asked. I started, but snapped out of my daze and nodded towards her. Pulling the loops out and away from her at an angle, she was able to pull her forelegs free, and turn over onto her back. "Um, were these hooked up when we crashed?" I suddenly asked, as it occurred to me. If we obliterated Applejack's lift system, I might not get the chance to apologize for the first thing before she scalped me alive for this one. Rainbow looked questioningly at the mass of ropes in her lap and then up towards the ceiling. I followed her gaze to a square frame mounted there. A pulley was attached to each of the corners, and I traced the line through the air. A square hole, slightly larger, resided in the loft platform. It was an elevator to lift heavy things up here, then. I saw a square frame of wood near the hole and swallowed weakly. Well, it was a pleasant afterlife while it lasted. "Uh, I don't remember. Great. AJ's gonna be mad," Rainbow Dash muttered, trying to untie her rear legs. I nodded weakly, pondering how much it would hurt to have a hoof cave my skull in. "Wonderful. At least I can help get you out," I returned, about equally as disheartened. Her cheeks flared up pink as I tried to slide the rope down her legs to undo the coil. "Ah! No, it's alright. I can get this part," she assured, swatting my hoof away. I raised an eye at her her, until I noticed her clamp her hind legs together after sliding the rope away. Oh. "I thought you only liked mares? Why do I bother you?" I asked with a chuckle, flopping tiredly onto my haunches a few feet from her. She glared of course, blush increasing. "I never said I only liked mares. Stallions are nice too. I just have my sights currently on Applejack is all," she corrected, rolling her eyes. Blushing as well, I shook my head slowly. "Don't worry about me. I'm not going to look," I promised, smiling softly. "Why? You exclusive into stallions or am I just ugly?" she suddenly asked, with obvious mirth in her voice. I squeaked and my blush roared up furiously. "Hey! I like girls, thank you! And you're not ugly. You're cute, actually," I protested, defending my honor. Looking back up, I saw her stand and grin at me, still blushing lightly. "So you're just a gentlecolt. Rarity would like you," she deduced. Wait, was she flirting? Nah. It was probably just her usual playful manner. "That and you called me disgusting already," I added, sticking my tongue out playfully. Rainbow Dash got a look of surprise, however, and tilted her head towards me. "I did? Huh. I don't remember doing it," she pondered, looking a tad perplexed. Ug. Why had I expected her to remember? Before we could carry the topic further, not that I wanted to, I suddenly picked up the sound of voices. They sounded really far off and I couldn't hear them properly. Dash must have heard it as well, as she burst over to the loft window and peeked out. "Horseapples! AJ and Big Mac are on the horizon and headed here over the hill," she reported, turning around and looking worried. Oh crap. My blood felt like it slowly turned to ice, and I tried to think of what to do to fix the situation. They must have seen the crash and were investigating. And here I am, the 'foal molester', and their lift system is busted to pieces. This was just perfect…