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That Quiet Time Between Adventures
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Dash walked into her house, breathing a sigh of relief. Her hard day’s work was finally finished, and she was back in her house, for the first time in months.
She had been overseeing the transfer of her unit into Ponyville, and had to admit, that it was hard work! She volunteered to move a lot of documents to her new office, but that involved a lot of flying. Alex had tried to lend a hoof, but Dash was afraid he'd burn the paper in the transport, as much as he promised not to.
But, she had just finished moving the last of the documents, and giving out assignments. So, she was in place to kick back and relax. Her men were to patrol Ponyville, and report any suspicious activity to her. Which, she knew there would be none of. It was basically vacation for all of them now.
Sniffing, Dash smelt something pleasant floating in the air as she walked into the living room… somepony was making cookies!
“Hey Dash!” Alex called, trotting out of the kitchen, wearing a frilly pink apron, “Pinkie gave me a recipe to help me make these!”
Dash looked at him and bit her lip, holding back her laughter, a skew smile across her face at his attire.
“What?” Alex asked, looking down to his apron and sighing, “It says ‘kiss the human’… I thought it would be clever! I even had it custom made...”
"I think it looks nice," Dash said calming down, as she made her way over to him and made a biting motion with her mouth.
“Oh!” Alex said, quickly levitating a cookie for her to taste.
“That’s pretty good,” Dash said, swallowing her first bite, exhaling to get a better taste, “What else did you get from Pinkie while i was out?”
“A few hoof jobs,” Alex shrugged, expecting an outburst from her, but got nothing, “Not gonna hit me for that one?”
“What’s a hoof job?” She asked, not recognizing the term whatsoever.
“Uh… Never mind,” Alex said, flinging his apron off, and flopping on the couch to relax, hoping to move the conversation in another direction, “Man… It’s nice to be back in this house.”
“It has been a while, hasn’t it?” Dash smiled and nodded, looking around, noting the cleanliness of the room, “I’m surprised there isn't a thick coat of dust in this place, actually.”
“That was me,” Alex said, not opening his eyes.
"You dusted?" Dash asked, impressed that he had done that for her.
“Actually... I uh…moved the house.”
Dash tilted her head. What did that mean?
“How was that?” Dash asked, her curiosity piqued.
“Well, since you were too busy to come home right away, I decided to try dusting the place,” Alex explained, still unmoving on the couch, “But, it took a pretty damn long time, even with my magic.”
“So… what does moving the house have to do with that?” She asked, making her way to his seat, and sitting down next to him.
“Once I gave up on cleaning it the right way, i took a nap, and then I decided to take a… different approach.” Alex said, cracking a smile, and opening one eye to look at her, “I moved the whole house thirty or so feet to the right, by teleporting everything EXCEPT the dust!”
Dash had to admit, that was an interesting approach. She was just surprised that he had the ability to move everything in this place, but skip the dust. It was REALLY advanced magic. In fact… it was a little too advanced.
“What did you mess up?” Dash asked cautiously, looking around the room for something out of place.
“Oh, everything,” Alex said, smiling, hiding his fear perfectly, “Half the house is in complete disarray.”
Just half?
“What about the other half?” Dash asked, squinting at him, her day starting to get a little worse.
“It… is…” Alex said, weighing his options. Tell the truth, or… run.
“It’s in a pile on the ground, about thirty feet away!” Alex finished, sitting up and smiling warmly at her, “But, since I DID just get back from a long enslavement at the hooves of the changelings, I think we can just look past this one, right?”
Dash sighed, and grabbed herself a cookie, quickly chewing and swallowing it.
“Well, I DID need to go furniture shopping,” She said, standing up and walking into the kitchen, seeing everything but the stove and counters missing.
“Or, you- we could move down to the ground,” Alex suggested, hoping that would be an appealing option for her.
“Why do you say that?” Dash asked, never having considered that course of action.
“Well, only ponies with wings can get here,” Alex said, tapping his hoof on the floor, “What happens if we want to have some friends over for dinner? Or have a party for one of our kids?”
Dash gave him a weird look.
Alex just made a whole-lotta-awkward in the room by mentioning the K word.
“K-kids?” Dash choked, a piece of cookie flying across the room.
“It was just a suggestion!” Alex said quickly, waving his front hooves in front of him, “I mean, I don’t want to have kids!”
“Oh, you- you don’t?” Dash said quickly, with the smallest hint of disappointment in her voice, "Uh, that's fine! If you--"
“Oh, I mean I do!” Alex nodded quickly, quickly finishing his explanation, “But, you know, not now!”
“You do? Okay, yeah! I mean, well, I always… Kind- Kinda liked the thought…” Dash trailed off, the embarrassment turning into timidity, “Well, I just… love babies.”
“Really?” Alex asked, a genuine smile on his face, loving this honesty she was showing, “I didn’t figure you for the baby type.”
“I wasn’t, actually,” She admitted, thinking back to a few years ago, “I mean, I was indifferent. Still… It changes your perspective when the guy you love might never come back from a stone prison... You start to notice babies everywhere!"
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense… No guys I’m in love with are in stone right now, so I guess I’ll never truly understand,” Alex joked, not phasing Dash, or the line of thought she was currently in.
“Nopony believed me when I mentioned it, to be honest,” Dash told him, remembering all the times her friends had said:
“As if Rainbow Dash would want kids!” Twilight had said to Fluttershy, just a few months ago.
“You’ve got tuh be kiddin’ me!” Applejack had laughed when she mentioned it a year ago.
“I don’t think you’d be very good with kids, Dashie!” Pinkie had laughed, after Dash failed miserably at babysitting the Cake twins during a visit to Ponyville.
Dash sighed. Nopony had had any faith in her. And now here she was… About to cry about it again.
“They really all said that?” Alex asked, figuring none of them meant it in a hurtful way. Reaching forward, he stroked her cheek, as she looked up to him with sad eyes.
“Dash, you shouldn’t listen to them,” He said, comforting her as best as he could, “All motherhood is, is something else for you to be awesome at. Don’t let anypony say anything otherwise.”
She wasn’t entirely convinced.
“What do I even know about being a mom anyway?” She asked gloomily, her eyes downcast as she moved to the side of the room, "I'm a selfish racing pony!"
Alex shook his head, giving her a serious look, “Nopony knows anything about being a mom before the fact, Colors. Not until they have a foal themselves, can they truly understand the challenges.”
“Yeah… I guess.” She nodded, her attitude brightening a bit.
“Look, this isn’t something we have to worry about right now, so don’t get yourself down about it,” Alex reassured, gesturing for her to sit next to him on the couch, “Just let everything come naturally. I’m pretty sure being a mother is somewhere in your DNA anyway.”
“That sounds a little sexist,” Dash noted, raising an eyebrow at him.
“That may be true, but I have crappy stuff in my DNA…” Alex said, recalling just this afternoon, “Earlier today I ate a bunch of cupcakes, farted, then fell asleep for three hours.”
“Was this before, or after you ruined all the furniture?” Dash asked, smirking at his silly explanation.
“Before,” Alex stated, “I woke up to sneezing from the dust, and then, I got the great idea to move the whole house!”
“And that was because of your DNA?” Dash asked, making sure his argument came full circle.
“Exactly!” Alex grinned, happy she was helping him out, “So, really, my sexism is just a complement to you!”
“I’m so happy to hear that,” Dash laughed, her mood much better now that Alex had lightened it, “…Thanks though.”
“Of course,” He said, kissing her, “Now, what else did you have planned for the night?”
“Nothing really…” Dash said, wondering what else there was she could finish up, “Just get some dinner and off to bed?”
“Awesome,” Alex beamed, pushing the plate of cookies in front of her, “I’ve been dying to eat, myself.”
“Perfect,” Dash chirped, her wings fluttering as she munched on yet another cookie, “What are you gonna make us?”
“Huh? You mean make dinner?” Alex asked, his head tilted, “Nononono. I was talking ABOUT you.”
…
Dash rolled her eyes. But flashed a smile.
“Well, if you’re gonna force me.”
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