Chapter 4: A Fast One
First things first, THANK YOU to all who have been following/favoriting this story. I appreciate it MORE than you can imagine! As for this chapter, this took longer than I thought. I've got a lot of RL stuff keeping me busy/distracted; plus I was debating on the direction to take this story in. Since this is story has multiple shippings, I thought it would make sense to develop them one at a time for the time being. Having said that, each chapter is going to be focused on one particular couple in order to develop not only their relationship; but also the new OC's and give you a better sense of who they are and where they're coming from. Eventually all couples will be merged into the primary story but since this is more of a emotional/romantic building story, I thought it would be best to build the couples up before getting back to the "big story" at hand. This one's all about Rainbow, with that said; enjoy! I claim no ownership over MLP: FIM or it's characters; except for my OC's.
The day after Pinkie's party, Rainbow quickly completed her daily Pegasus cloud chores and began searching for the gray stallion that had been on her mind since she woke up this morning. Her pink eyes darted across the landscape; soaring over town in search of that elusive pony that was fogging up her thoughts.
"Arrowhead."
The cyan Pegasus couldn't get that colt out of her head. More importantly however, she couldn't get what she said to that colt out of her head. Rainbow had always prided herself on being a brave, daring and loyal friend; somepony that any pony would be lucky enough to have on their side. And yet, Rainbow's words to Arrowhead were nothing short of mean and insulting. Even if the cyan Pegasus wasn't interested in dating that Earth pony; she could have phrased it better and not offended him as severely as she did.
"I still don't get how he gave me the slip last night. I'm the fastest pony in Ponyville; heh and most of Equestria, but STILL I lost him." Rainbow hovered in midair, scratching her chin softly as she pondered. "Guess there's no other way around it; I'm just gonna have to ask around and see if somepony has seen him or not."
Rainbow dropped her descent and began scanning every visible pony she could see. She checked on the streets, open windows, alleyways, farm fields, she even popped into a few restaurants and cafes but still no luck.
"Ugh this is nuts! I know every pony that lives here and still I can't find one single pony that just moved here recently; you'd think he'd stick out like a sore hoof or something."
The Cyan pony blinked upon seeing something truly strange: a colt with a paper bag over his head. The bag had eyeholes cut out so the colt could see.
"Hmmm…I wonder."
Rainbow zoomed towards the colt; suspecting it was Arrowhead trying to hide himself from being recognized. But even if this wasn't Arrowhead, this guy is still new around here which means he might know something about the other new ponies that came to town.
"Let's see who you really are…HA," Rainbow zoomed by and grabbed the bag off the pony's head. The Pegasus stopped and suddenly realized this pony's coat wasn't grey; it was dark blue. "Oops; sorry pal, I thought you looked like somepony I was looking for." Rainbow extended the bag to the pony, "Here's your-"
The pony was Slick Charmer; still suffering from an intense case of mane loss. His hair looked like specks of burnt curly fries that were left in a fryer too long.
"Do. You. Mind?!"
Rainbow couldn't even form words to respond, she just burst into a sea of roaring laughter. The Pegasus rolled onto her back and flapped her wings with every chuckle.
"Oh sweet Celestia, you're hair it's just….just."
Rainbow tried to finish her sentence, but a second look at Slick caused her to explode with laughter once more. Slick stared at Rainbow, angrily awaiting her to cease laughing. But the mare just laughed harder the longer she looked at him, her cyan face was turning bright red. Tears formed in Rainbow's eyes, her hooves thumping on the ground. Slick snatched his bag back and left with a furious scowl on his face.
"Gee Rainbow Dash; that must have been some joke you heard. Can I hear it too?"
The cyan Pegasus ended her giggle fit upon hearing a rather familiar voice above her. She looked up and spotted a goofy eyed grey Pegasus with blond hair, grey coat and bubbles for a cutie mark. The grey pony had a brown satchel stuffed with packages and letters.
"Oh hey Derpy, what's up?" Rainbow sat back up and hovered up towards the blond mail pony. "Well besides us that is; how's the mail business treating you?"
"Oh great Rainbow, my supervisor says I'm getting a lot better at handling fragile packages." Derpy reached into her satchel and pulled out a crushed box marked fragile all over in red letters, the box looked like an Elephant sat on it. "See? I only dropped it 6 times today!" Derpy smiled proudly.
"Uh yeah…that's really…an improvement. Look, I hate to cut this short but I gotta fly. I've got to find a certain pony and talk to him."
"Oh! Is he your special some pony? That's so cool! I'm so happy to hear that Rainbow, I thought this day would never come."
"HEY! First off, no he is not my special some pony; I literally just met him last night. And secondly," Rainbow leaned in and glared right at Derpy's uneven eyes. "What do you mean you thought this day would never come?"
"Oops, my bad" Derpy laughed nervously, trying to play it off as casually as possible. "I just think it's really cool; that's all. Stinks you can't find him though."
"Sigh I know. The guy is slipperier than I thought, I figured because he's new to town he'd be easier to spot; but I've looked all over and nothing, nada, zip."
Derpy rubbed her chin softly before looking into her satchel, her yellow eyes scanning over numerous letters. "Well what's his name? Maybe I got some mail for him and you can find him through that."
"Hey that's a great idea. His name is Arrowhead and…wait, isn't that illegal? You know, sharing other pony's personal information with some pony else?"
The grey Pegasus removed a letter with Arrowhead's name on it but stopped once she processed what Rainbow said. Derpy looked at Rainbow curiously, "It is? I'm not supposed to do that? Wow you learn something new every day."
Rainbow stared flatly at Derpy; deeply wondering and worrying how much Derpy actually knew how her job worked.
"Anyway here's that guy's address," Derpy extended her hoof with the letter to Rainbow. The blond mare fumbled with the letter and accidentally dropped it. "Oops, my bad; I'll go get it", Derpy soared down at top speed to capture the falling letter.
"Wait Derpy; slow down. If you go too fast straight down you won't have enough time to-"
SLAM!
The blond mare face planted right onto the ground, her hind legs sticking up; twitching along with her wings. Derpy landed right next to the letter while the rest of her mail was scattered everywhere.
"Sigh…stop," Rainbow shook her head and rubbed her cyan temples.
Derpy slowly peeled her face off the ground and spotted the letter right in front of her nose; she reached out and grabbed it. "I got it; want me to read you the address?"
"NO, no, that's fine; really don't worry about it. Tell you what, why don't you just point me in the right direction and I can find him from there."
"Hmmmm okay, Arrowhead lives around," Derpy looked around the town slowly before deciding on a direction. "That way," Derpy pointed towards Sweet apple acres.
"I see, well thanks for all your help Derpy."
Rainbow left the bumbling Derpy to pick herself up; flying off in the exact opposite direction she was told to go towards.
"Um hey Rainbow, you're going the wrong way; I told you that Arrow guy lived that way."
"I know…that's why I'm going this way."
Arrowhead stood outside his small cottage home; slightly farther away from other ponies' homes. The grey colt went to check his mail box…again for what felt like the 10th time today. He had no idea the mail service was this slow in Ponyville or maybe today's just not his day. The colt turned around and was about to head back into his home.
CLANK!
The sound of the mailbox clanking alerted him to turn back around. To the colt's surprise, there was a very familiar cyan colored Pegasus standing by his mailbox. Arrowhead's lips formed into a frown the minute he spotted this familiar mare.
"Hehehe hey there, expecting any good news today?" Rainbow joked, smiling weakly while fumbling with the metal box.
"Yeah…I was but now it looks like all I got was bad news instead."
Arrowhead turned around and headed for his front door; Rainbow zoomed in front of him and stuck her wings out like a blockade.
"Do you mind? I'm trying to get into my house."
"And I'M trying to apologize; I feel awful about what I said last night. It was a crummy thing to do and I'm just really, really sorry."
"There, ya said it; NOW can you let me get inside?"
Rainbow smiled; hopeful she mended things with the grey colt. Arrowhead moved past her and slammed his door shut behind him. The Pegasus was uncertain if things were really squared away. She knocked on the door and leaned in to talk to him.
"Soooooo are we cool? Do you accept my apology then?"
The only answer Rainbow got from behind the door was cold silence.
Dash frowned and tried to think of a way to fix this. I can't just leave things like this, he HAS to accept my apology or I'm never gonna stop feeling like an ass about this. I just wish I knew why he was taking this so personally…he said something about not thinking I would be like this; like he knew me or something. Rainbow shook her colorful locks and cleared her mind. That's it, I'm settling this right now.
The speedy mare rapidly hammered Arrowhead's front door like a Gatling gun, the door bounced so many times it looked like it was made of rubber. Finally Arrowhead opened the door. The colt looked peeved beyond words; his blue eyes staring at the unmovable Pegasus standing before him.
"You're not going to stop hounding me until I accept your apology are you?"
Rainbow crossed her hooves over her chest and sat firmly on the ground. The Pegasus looked as if she was going to sit out there in protest all day and all night if she had to, she was intent on seeing this through.
Arrowhead smiled and nodded. "That's what I thought, I accept your apology Rainbow Dash," the colt extended his hoof down and helped Rainbow back up. "How's a walk sound?"
The Pegasus slowly nodded; surprised at how easily Arrowhead accepted her apology and was already asking her to go for a walk with him. The mare and colt walked side by side down the road, perfectly calm and pleasant as if an argument had never taken place.
Rainbow stared at Arrowhead like he was some sort of rare bird; waiting to fly away at a moment's notice. The colt laughed softly, "Is there something on my face or did you enter a staring contest with me without telling?"
"I can't figure you out. You make a huge deal over what I said last night and instead of arguing with me for another hour or so; which you totally could have, you just brush it off and ask me to go for a boring old walk like nothing ever happened."
"I wanted to see how important this was to you." Rainbow blinked curiously at Arrowhead's words, "You only talked to me for a few minutes and didn't actually owe me anything. Sure what you said upset me, but you could have brushed it all off too; instead you stuck around to make sure a guy you knew very little about had accepted your apology. That was really cool."
Once again, Rainbow resumed staring at the grey colt. Arrowhead noticed the mare's gaze was more intense and driven this time.
"What, what is it?"
"You're a complicated guy you know that Arrowhead?"
The colt smirked and shook his head at the mare's statement, trotting forward with a slight spring in his hooves. Rainbow squinted her eyes as she mumbled to herself; "Well at I least I think you are."
"One thing you need to know about me Dash is that I'm as direct and to the point as they come. I'm straight with everyone; I don't believe in beating around the bush or playing games. You ask me something I'll answer truthfully, no hidden meanings or subtle tricks guaranteed."
Rainbow sported her own confident smirk; riding up alongside Arrowhead and flying a little off the ground. "Yeah, yeah that's what every pony says. I've seen it all pal and I can tell you there's always some pony out there whose got a game plan rattling around in their noggins whether you believe it or not."
"And you've never been wrong about assuming some pony is playing games with you?"
The Pegasus froze in midair; the humiliating memory of mistaking that one tourist pony for Miss Harshwhinny flashing right into her brain. Rainbow couldn't believe all that running around she thought was "playing games" was actually just some mare having a good time at the Crystal Empire.
Arrowhead grinned and lightly elbowed Rainbow, "Your stunned silence is very reassuring."
Rainbow shook her head and sighed. "Okay so not EVERY pony is playing games with you, my competitive side tends to take over more often than I'd like to admit." The mare confidently pointed her hoof at the colt's face. "But that still doesn't mean I'm buying that you're on the level. If you're so honest and straight with everyone, then why don't you tell me what you meant when you said you were so wrong about me last night? You don't know me so what was that supposed to mean?"
The colt shrugged, "Well I kind of had an idea of what you would be like based on what I heard and I was disappointed when I heard you said you weren't interested because I was an Earth pony. I didn't think you would be like that."
"So then why don't you tell me?" Rainbow plopped down in the middle of the road, blocking Arrowhead. "Forget all the stories, rumors and legends going on about me and tell me what you thought I would be like."
"Um I think you're a bit young to be having 'legends' just yet."
"Oh pony feathers, you know what I meant! Just spill already," Rainbow hovered over Arrowhead's head slightly and poked his chest with every following word. "What. Did. You. Think. About. Me?"
Arrowhead took a deep breath, closed his eyes and then opened them. "To tell the truth I didn't know what to think. The things I heard about you impressed me but I wanted to wait til I talked to you and get something confirmed first."
"And what's that?"
"How incredibly attractive you are."
Rainbow's wings slowed to a small flap, her stern gaze and hovering position melting into a soft blank state. "W-w-w-what did you just say?"
Arrowhead smiled, continuing effortlessly, "I think you're the hottest mare I've ever seen. I love your hair; the rainbow thing is so cool looking and unique." He pointed to her flank, "Not to mention that awesome cutie mark. It's so colorful and powerful; it really stands out. I mean, you have no idea how hard it was for me to stay composed and talk to you."
The cyan Pegasus had no idea how to respond to all of this wondrous praise, she rubbed her shoulders nervously and avoided eye contact. "What are you doing? Just s-s-s-stop it all right, you're kinda freaking me out." Rainbow briefly locked eyes with Arrowhead; his confidence and blue eyes caused her cheeks to flush with tomato red blushes.
"I don't understand. I just figured you'd be used to all of this, I imagine colts knock on your door all the-"
"Just STOP okay?!"
The mare's outburst silenced the conversation in one, cold, swift motion. Arrowhead was visibly shocked; confused at what he did wrong or said to cause such offense or uneasiness. Rainbow tried to hide her face behind her colorful locks, like Rarity did when she lost her fake eyelash on the train.
"Look I didn't mean to be insensitive; I was just paying you a compliment."
Rainbow could hear the hurt in his voice. He truly felt guilty by his words, as if his genuineness was a bad thing. This guy really was just being nice to me…nicer than any colt has ever been to me. The Pegasus flipped her hair back and looked at Arrowhead, a sense of sadness and shyness quaking in her softened voice.
"It's not that…it's just…"
"What? Please tell me," Arrowhead placed his hoof over Rainbow's. The colt knew he wasn't close enough with Rainbow to cross this boundary but she genuinely looked like she needed the gesture.
Rainbow softly sighed and nodded. "It's just that you make me sound like this amazing mare that everyone is trying to date but no pony really is, and for the most part I've been totally cool with that. I'm not into mushy stuff and all these warm fuzzy feelings; things like that just rub me the wrong way."
"But?"
"But when you started saying all those REALLY nice things to me, it reminded me of how barely any guys have looked twice at me." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head and shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. I'm not guy crazy like Rarity or like to get dressed up and go out on dates or anything, but you know…it wouldn't hurt if once in a while some guy said I look nice."
Rainbow never used the words like "cute" or "beautiful" when describing herself, she always thought they were too "girly" or inappropriate for someone of her status. But in truth, the Wonderbolt fan secretly longed for a different kind of attention and praise. She feared accepting those feelings or desires would lessen her image as an awesome athlete, much like she feared reading books would turn her into an "egg head."
Arrowhead softly gasped at Rainbow's words. "So that's it…what I was saying was bothering you because guys don't come up to you and say that stuff on a regular basis." The colt's attraction to the mare seemed to be unique; something he was not expecting at all to hear. "I had no idea Rainbow."
Dash weakly smiled and shook her head; dismissing Arrowhead's inevitable but unnecessary apology. "Don't worry about it pal; ponies just don't normally talk to me that way." Rainbow paused for a moment and corrected herself, "Scratch that; ponies never talk to me that way."
"Well like I told you before, I'm straight with every pony; I tell it how it is and I don't change that for any pony." The grey colt walked past Rainbow and gave her a flirtatious smile and wink. "So the longer you hang around me; the more you'll hear about how awesomely cute you truly are."
Rainbow's cyan cheeks turned bright pink, "Um…okay" she squeaked softly. Clearly the mare still wasn't used to all of this.
The Pegasus composed herself from her sudden flushed cheeks. She could hear grunting sounds coming from behind her, Rainbow turned around to see Arrowhead stretching and bending. The colt looked like he was preparing to run a marathon based on his stretching.
"Ummmm what exactly are you doing?"
"Getting ready for a run" Arrowhead said as he cracked his neck left to right. "Or more accurately; a race" he smiled and pointed a hoof right at Rainbow. "A race with you: the fastest mare in Ponyville."
The Pegasus smugly scoffed at the challenge. "Puh-lease, I'm the fastest pony in all of Equestria; you can't be serious." Arrowhead raised a slightly irritated eyebrow at Rainbow's remark. The Pegasus sighed and rolled her eyes, "Right the whole 'I'm always straight and to the point with every pony' thing. How could I forget?"
"So is that a yes or a no?"
"Are you sure you want to do this? Wouldn't you rather dish all your mushy stuff feelings out on Applejack? She is an Earth pony after all; plus she's strong like you AND is totally honest about everything."
"I have no doubt she's a fine gal," the grey colt ceased stretching and walked right up to Rainbow's side. "But there's no Earth pony, Pegasus or Unicorn as fine as you Dash," he picked up Rainbow's hoof and held it. "And that's the truth."
Rainbow laughed nervously, feeling nervous and flattered at the same time. She removed her hoof from Arrowhead's and stretched out her wings. "Man heh…you really got a way with words there huh?"
Arrowhead shrugged, "If you say so."
"I do say you and I also say that you're nutty if you think you can beat me in a race."
"All right then why don't we make it interesting? How's a wager sound to you?"
"HA, HA you are SO on! What are the stakes?"
"If I win, you let me take you out on a date." Rainbow's face flashed bright pink once again, she swallowed loudly. "I pick the place, I pick the time and it's just the two of us; no friends or any pony else: a straight up date."
"And when I'm the winner; you're going to buy a great big lunch for me and all of my friends and we can order WHATEVER we want, Deal?"
Arrowhead nodded to the terms.
Rainbow made a finish line in the dirt with her hoof. "This will be where we meet, once around Ponyville and back to this spot. First one back here is declared the winner."
"Sounds like a game plan to me; let's get galloping then." The colt stood behind the line and flexed his hind legs; Rainbow went next to him and did the same. He looked to her and smiled, "Since I am an Earth pony after all, I'm sure it goes without saying that no wings will be allowed."
The Pegasus nodded, "No problem; I've raced before without using my wings. I did it back when I did the annual running of the leaves." Rainbow bit her lip nervously after recalling that race. I just hope this race ends better.
Rainbow started the count down and once she shouted "GO"; she and Arrowhead were gone in a blurry flash of cyan and grey. The Pegasus clearly had the lead in the beginning but was shocked to see that not only was Arrowhead keeping remarkable pace with her; he was gaining on her rainbow colored tail. The ponies zoomed around Ponyville in a matter of moments. Several ponies spotted the blurry trails of the 2 racing ponies; the speed and velocity of their dust trails made it near impossible for any onlooker to identify either pony or be able to determine who was winning. Arrowhead and Rainbow spotted the finish line dead ahead. The two ponies made a last ditch effort to surpass the other; both of them could feel their legs burning as the finish line came closer and closer.
The cyan Pegasus felt her hooves skidding over the finish line; her wings flapping hard to slow her body down. "Did I win? Am I the first one here?" Rainbow looked around to see any sign of Arrowhead. Suddenly a blurry gray blob was heading right for her at incredible speeds. Rainbow gulped, "Oh darn…"
WHAM!
Arrowhead collided into Rainbow, the two ponies rolled into the grass and off the road with the finish line. The two racers had stars swirling in their eyes. Rainbow shook herself free from the dizziness, staring down at Arrowhead lying on the ground; lifelessly.
"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH! Are you all right, can you hear me?" Rainbow shook Arrowhead frantically. "Arrowhead; please say something."
Arrowhead groaned loudly, he rubbed his head and adjusted his spinning eyes. "Man…that was one heck of a race." Rainbow sighed happily; she was worried the colt might have been seriously injured. Arrowhead slowly looked at his "position"; Rainbow was sitting on top of him with her hind legs straddling him. Both ponies immediately turned redder than tomato soup. The colt chuckled softly, "You know…from this angle; second place it a lot more appealing than I thought."
BONK!
Rainbow angrily bonked Arrowhead on his head. "You big jerk" she huffed loudly; the mare flew off of the colt and landed next to him. "What kind of guy makes a move on a girl who is freaking out over the possibility of hurting him?"
"Hey YOU landed on top of me after we collided", Arrowhead grumbled and rubbed his throbbing skull. "Besides it's not that big of a deal; we just happened to land in an awkward situation. It happens."
"Yeah, yeah; whatever you say. Either way, I won so it's time to pony up the dough pony." Rainbow turned her head to the side and extended her hoof; waiting for Arrowhead to hand her the money. "I won fair and square."
Arrowhead smiled; Rainbow's behavior was amusing him. "That you did Dash; that you did and I fully intend on paying for you and your friend's lunch." The Pegasus ceased frowning and returned her gaze to Arrowhead. The colt slapped Rainbow's hoof and began walking away. "In fact, I'll take you and all your friends out to lunch…in person."
Rainbow gasped at the colt's words. "Huh?" She looked at her hoof and saw there was nothing in it. "Hey, wait a minute there buddy! That wasn't part of the deal; the bet was that if you lost that you would have to buy lunch for me and my friends."
Arrowhead stopped, turned to Rainbow and nodded. "And that's exactly what I'm going to do; but unfortunately, I just don't have any money on me right now." Rainbow groaned and snorted angrily. "Besides, you never said I couldn't attend lunch with you guys; you just said I had to pay." The colt winked to Rainbow, "So I guess if you want your lunch then you'll just have to let me join you. Let me know when your friends can get together with us, until then; ciao!"
The Pegasus's jaw dropped like a 10 ton anvil, her eyes frozen on that smooth talking colt who walked off with a cheerful bounce in his voice. Rainbow couldn't believe what just happened. She won the race and somehow this guy STILL managed to get her to go out with him…sort of.
"Ummmm what just happened?"
"Oh well…I believe that's what they call: pulling a fast one."
The speedy mare felt the fur on her neck stand up at the sound of that soft, sweet; recognizable voice. That voice was very familiar to Rainbow's ears. She slowly turned around, moving as if her muscles were made of molasses. Fluttershy was sitting in the grass by a tree, having a small tea party with her animal friends. The butter colored Pegasus smiled sweetly to her fellow flying friend.
"H-h-h-h-how long have you been there?" Rainbow felt like she was going to literally die from embarrassment.
Fluttershy rubbed her chin softly. "Hmm well not very long; when I got here I didn't see any pony so I thought it would be a nice peaceful spot to have a little tea party. I didn't see you and that other pony until you crashed into each other after the finish line."
Rainbow slapped her face with both hooves and pulled on it like it was a rubber mask. The Pegasus cried out in humiliated agony, slumping her face into her hooves. Great! That means Fluttershy saw all that awkward…rolling we did AND me getting tricked by that speedy grey colt. I feel like such an idiot!
"There's no need to feel bad Rainbow Dash; I won't tell any pony if you don't want me to." The yellow Pegasus smiled and patted Rainbow on the back. "Besides; he seems like a really nice guy."
Another loud groan escaped Rainbow's lips. The Pegasus's sour mood dissipated the more she thought about Arrowhead and his tricking her into spending more time with him. Rainbow Dash smiled and looked down at the muddied finish line, "Yeah…he does doesn't he?"
To be continued…