//------------------------------// // Hearts Merged and Heart Broken // Story: The MacDash Chronicles // by FelixTheBrony //------------------------------// Hearts Merged and Heart Broken Rainbow sat in the shade of one of the trees far from the area her friends were, allowing her tears to fall free. Her free wing was being used to hug her own torso in an attempt to try and stop her chest from hurting. Why was she feeling like this?! She had only met Lil' Mac yesterday and she was already crying about it as if he had just cheated on her or something! She was Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in her school and coolest filly out there! She did not cry and she certainly didn't cry over something as silly as this! But, no matter how many times she reminded herself of this, it only made the pain feel worse. As if she knew that she wasn't even kidding herself, much less anypony else. Applejack had picked up on her crush almost immediately and they had only met today! Maybe I should just tell him and be done with it... She thought to herself, sighing. At least then I can get the rejection out of the way early and we can get past it quicker. But she knew that was unlikely. After all, they were going to be in the same house for the whole month and avoiding him if it didn't blow over quickly was nigh impossible. She was suddenly ripped from her thoughts when she felt a firm but gentle foreleg wrap around her back and pull her into a small embrace. She sniffled and looked up at Lil' Mac's worried face. “What...?” “Ah dunno, looked like ya needed one,” He shrugged, letting his hoof gently rub her shoulder comfortingly. She turned back down, but pressed up against him a little more. Finding warmth in his embrace. They stayed like that for a few seconds, her letting out tiny little sobs and him just letting her let them out before she suddenly found herself and used her uninjured wing to rub her face free of the water stains. As if trying to salvage some of the image she wanted him to have of her. Lil' Mac just tiled his head slightly to face her with a questioning look. “Why did ya start cryin'? Ah didn't knock yer wing, did Ah?” Rainbow looked up and shook her head, biting her lip slightly when she realised how close the two of them actually were to each other. Lil' Mac sighed a little and smiled as comfortingly as possible, trying to find out why his new friend/ first crush was bawling her eyes out after falling down the hill with him. “C'mon, you can tell me. Ah promise Ah won't laugh.” She cringed at the thought of him laughing at her about her feelings for him. That'd hurt a lot more than just being shot down. She started trying to think of an excuse. She couldn't use the 'knocked the wing' one since she just said that wasn't why she was crying, but everything else she came up with was ridiculous. Heck, the actual reason she was crying was quite ridiculous! She sighed through her nose and turned to him, knowing that she wasn't going to be getting away with lying since he said that his family could spot a lie coming from a mile away, and decided to answer the best she could. “I...I...I-I...” Dammit brain, work with me here! “Fluttershy has a crush on you!” Lil' Mac recoiled a little, his eyes widened in surprise. “She does?” He asked, confused. Rainbow cursed herself in her head. Now to add to her ever growing pile of problems she was having, she had just betrayed her best friend's trust! Dammit brain, this is going just about as well as wrapping yourself in tin foil and flying through a thunderstorm! “Uh...I mean...I uh...” Mac looked down at her, still surprised at what she had just said. “So, how does Fluttershy havin' a crush on me affect you?” He asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Rainbow clenched her eyes shut and turned her head away from him. Lil' Mac sighed and removed his hoof from her side. “Ah understand if ya need some space...” Rainbow, in a panic, grabbed the hoof he had just pulled back. “Wait! I'll tell you, but please don't leave yet!” Mac jumped a little at her sudden volume shift, but decided to hear her out. After all, he could wait. He laid back down next to her and she pressed herself back into him, all the while still trying to put together her jumbled thoughts. C'mon Rainbow just pony up and tell him! The worst he could do is say he doesn't feel the same way! “I...I really like you...” She said in a Fluttershy like mumble, effectively meaning that he had struggled to hear her. “Um...Sorry Rainbow, Ah didn't rightly hear ya,” He responded, shifting his head towards her a little. Rainbow just sighed and looked up at him. Well, She thought to herself, clenching her eyes shut. Actions speak louder than words! With that, she inched closer to him and rubbed her nose against his very softly, almost as if it were just a whisper of wind that had flown past. But Mac understood the gesture all too well and had frozen in place at the contact. Time seemed to stand still as Rainbow just sat up, looking at the colt who looked as if he had seen a ghost or something. She manoeuvred her way around so she was sat in front of him and waved her hoof in front of his face, anxiously. “Um...Lil' Mac?” She said, almost as if he would snap at her if she had disturbed him. He sat up and shook his head. He then looked deep into her eyes, his deep green staring intently into her magenta irises. She was about to turn to run and cry some more, taking his silence as rejection enough, before he suddenly stepped forward and pressed his snout against hers, rubbing it ever so slightly. Her eyes never left his as he did this and she noticed a relieved kind of happiness behind them. She couldn't help but to smile and rub her nose back against his, her head tilting up slightly to meet his slightly taller frame. The two seemed oblivious to the rest of the world as they nuzzled against each other in the afternoon sun. So oblivious in fact, that they didn't notice that someone else had spotted them. Someone with a yellow coat, a pink mane and now tear filled blue eyes as she turned tail and ran from the scene in front of her.