//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Trust Me, I'm Rich // Story: The Dimensional Traveler's Guide To Rainbows, And Other Troubles // by benxlabs //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Trust Me, I'm Rich I don't suppose that girls with rainbow hair are common nowadays? I wasn't exactly sure what to think. I did miss out on a couple years, so maybe some weird fashion trend evolved while I was gone? Maybe when I stepped outside again, I would see scads and scads of scantily clad lunatics sporting multi-colored wigs. It was a horrifying thought, and I ceased to dwell upon it before my mind fizzled out. I sighed and looked at my father with questioning eyes, requesting an explanation. "We too were surprised by the coloring of her hair. It is likely dyed, as is the style of this younger generation." said my Father. I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it. My father was not my father anymore. Despite all the tormentations that were the grueling lessons he arranged for me, now, everytime I saw those eyes look at me in that sad light, filled with nothing but emptiness, I felt my fists clench. Now wasn't the time for those kinds of thoughts though. I shook my head and gave myself a few slaps to get back to the issue at hand. There was a girl on the bed, and she had rainbow-colored hair. It didn't quite seem possible that she could have followed me all this way, and I didn't quite believe that she would have anyways. Since I ended up back on Earth, I guess Celestia was able to change the solar flare into a giant spell that affected everyone. In that case, I would be the only one that would get sent back to Earth. Clever thinking, Princess. But something still lurked in the back of my mind. A shadow of doubt, a hint of disbelief, still existed, but it didn't dare come out into the light. Anyways, the girl lying on the bed was probably just some hippy who had gotten high in the woods. It was a comforting thought, and it brought a smile to my face, but like my heart, my smile was a cold and empty, never even reaching my eyes before it gave way. "Well, if she wakes up, you can try and figure out all the details. It's about time for my son's nap time, so I'll be off to settle him into bed!" With a smile and a wave, my father exited the room. I sighed again. Perhaps sighing is my special ability. I seem to do that pretty often, don't I? Having nothing else to do, I examined the girl's face once again. Her rainbow-colored hair captured every color of the visible spectrum. It must have cost a fortune to do that in a hair salon. I wondered how the real Rainbow Dash was doing. I wondered if she was okay, as I felt her pretty close by when the solar flare hit. It was a bad decision to think about her. I hadn't meant to, but when I thought about Rainbow Dash, I thought about Twilight too. And Applejack. And Fluttershy. And Pinky. And Rarity. Unbidden, my mind flew through the short month we had been together. I had been thrown into a world that was vastly different from my own, and despite some rather unfortunate and self-deprecating mishaps, I was accepted into that world as one of their own, something that never quite happened in my own world. The memories we shared, the moments we spent together, the adventures we struggled through, the pain we endured, the happiness we laughed through, I saw it all again as if it was happening before my eyes. By the time I finished my retrospective requiem, a fine mist had layered over my eyes, which were quickly moistening. Then I remembered the Solstice Ceremony. My head dropped into my hands. I might have destroyed my friends with my own selfishness. My fist smashed into the wall besides me. I'm such an idiot. The quiet rustling of blankets shocked me out of my daze, and I felt my heart skip a beat as I slowly turned towards the bed. My eyes widened with hers as they opened slowly at first, but then with frightening speed as she took in her surroundings. I would have laughed at her comical confusion, but as it was, I got up and prepared to enlighten the brat as to why drugs were bad. But you know, I couldn't say anything after I saw her eyes. They were tinted with a peculiar shade of pink. I would have called them rosy, but they weren't. They weren't really pure pink, but they definitely weren't red. I couldn't describe them. The words were beyond me. But although I couldn't describe them, I definitely knew whose they were. All I could muster after just standing there for a while was a rather pathetic: "No way." Yes way. Her head swiveled around as her gaze shot around every corner of the room. She gazed at her bed, and then at herself. I winced as I saw her eyes widen once again. It was a sentiment to which I could relate. As she looked around wildly, her panicked eyes finally settled on me, and I sensed a sort of primal frustration that made me take a few steps back. I probably should have just run away, but I was too enthralled by the turn of events to do anything. I was still in a dazed state when she began screaming. Not much of it registered in my mind, as I was still trying to process the fact that the "hippy who got high in the woods" wasn't quite who I thought she was. "What the buck did you do to me?" "Where the buck is this? What've you done with my friends? I was thankful the door was closed, for I'm sure that my Father, not to mention the police, would have come running. I wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of having to explain things to an enraged supersonic Pegasus, like why her wings were gone, or why she wasn't blue anymore. In situations like this, there was only one thing to do. I used my secret ability. Letting out an extremely long, exasperated sigh that was filled with fatigue and frustration, I slumped down into the chair next to the bed. "Listen. I didn'-" I had hardly begun before she cut me off. "Listen?? LISTEN?? Give me back my normal body or I swear to Celestia I'll beat the living daylights out of you!" I waited till she was finished, and began again. "I wasn't the-" Once again, I was abruptly and suddenly cut off. "Shut the buck up and give me my wings back!" She was writhing on the bed, trying to get a foothold I suppose. She was trying to get up, but her attempts were almost comical. Sighing again, I said: "Okay, just let me fini-" "Buck off! Now I was ticked. "Give me b-" I couldn't stand her ranting anymore. "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME! This is my house, do you understand? You could be outside in the woods with who knows what, but we took you in to keep you safe. So just listen to me and stop interrupting!" I took a few deep breaths. I had neglected the teachings of Thomas Jefferson, and had spoken without speaking. I felt a pang of remorse as I looked at her downcast expression. Feeling a sense of obligation, I put my hand on her shoulder. When she raised her face to look at me, I locked eyes with her. Trying to lighten the mood, I said: "Trust me. I'm rich." This time, I smiled a smile that reached my eyes. First off, I decided to convince her of my identity. I had managed to defuse her anger, but now all I felt from her was fear. She had smiled too, at my failure of an attempt at making a joke, but she still didn't trust me. And if she didn't trust me, it would be reasonable to assume that she wouldn't believe anything that I said. But how could I convince her that we were acquaintances? "Rainbow Dash." I decided to go with the straight out "how could I know you if I didn't know all this stuff about you" approach. "Who told you my name?" She just gave a dejected reply as she rubbed the spots on her back where her wings used to be. Not good. She wasn't even paying attention. I was gonna have to do better than that if I wanted to convince her. "I am a human. You are a human. We are all humans. Yay." I decided to stick with basic words. She was stressed as it was, so I tried to make it easy for her. "Human...he said something about that...if only he were here...he'd know what to do..." She wasn't even listening to me anymore, she was just rocking back and forth, whispering to herself. I had to take drastic action. I walked up to the bed and put my hands on her shoulders. She gave a start and looked at me, terror in her eyes. I winced. Was it that strange? I suppose I was lucky she didn't break a window and run away like I did when I found out I had become a Pegasus. I relaxed my grip on her shoulders. I had to be careful. If I messed up here, things could go downhill very, very quickly. I took a deep breath, and locked eyes with her. Her eyes flickered back and forth, trying to avoid my gaze, but I didn't relent. "Take a look into my eyes, hotshot." I spoke softly but carried a big metaphorical stick. Her gaze bore into mine as we locked eyes. She was scared at fist, but she found something in my eyes that kept her there. "Don't tell me you've forgotten me after all those times I made breakfast for you." I raised an eyebrow in an attempt to mimic disbelief. My eye color had changed, but I was confident that she could recognize me. The eyes are the window to the soul, right? Perhaps there is some truth to that saying, since her eyes discovered a newfound determination as she looked into mine. I was a bit unnerved by the intensity of her stare, but I didn't dare back down. At times like this, it's a battle of wills. Neither of us broke eye contact, and neither of us spoke a word, but the expressions on our faces and the minuscule twitches of our eyes conveyed our messages for us. I don't know how long we sat there for, locked in mortal staring combat, but something happened then. I don't know what happened, and I suppose I never will. Perhaps my eye twitched at just the right moment. Perhaps I unconsciously made some kind of gesture. But at that moment, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened once more, and she wrapped her arms around me. I suppose there was some kind of mutual understanding then, because the fine mist from times past returned to haunt me. It thickened, and soon my vision was blurred by a deluge of salty tears. I didn't care if she saw me crying. After all, her face was marred by the same sparkling streaks that covered mine. "I wouldn't mind if you kept making breakfast for me..." She awkwardly buried her head in my chest with a smile. I would have hugged her back. If only she had clothes on.