Rainbow Dash could only describe the walk back to Steele Bolt's home with one word; uneventful. The stallion avoided conversation at all costs, anything she asked was answered with one word sentences that left her with little material to continue the conversation. She was tempted to take to the skies so she could speed up the agonizingly slow process, but sadly she didn't know where the stallion lived. In a desperate attempt to stave off boredom, Rainbow started to look over her company in more detail. His coat was a steel blue colour, reminiscent of her own coat but with a much duller tone. It wasn't well maintained and she was curious if he even bothered to bathe regularly. Rarity would throw a fit if she saw him in such a state, but he didn't seem to care at all. His mane and tail were an appropriately dull colour as well, as brown as the dirt they were walking on. His tail and mane could be considered shaggy; just as unkempt as his coat, but met a pretty average length. His mane just barely stopped before it would cover his eyes; traveling down his neck until it reached his back, while his tail would just about reach the bottom of one of his rear legs.
Eventually her attention was drawn to the stallion's most defining feature, the nasty looking scar along his back. It seemed his coat couldn't grow back from the damage done to his skin, and the colour of his flesh was warped from what looked like burns. Just from it's appearance; Rainbow could tell that it would be rough to the touch. Not that she wanted to touch a stranger's back. This discovery obviously brought questions to mind. How had he gained such terrible scars? Was he self-conscious of it? Did it hurt? Even if her curiosity begged for answers, she knew better than to ask such personal questions, especially to somepony she had only just met whom didn't want to talk at all.
Once her analysis of the stallion was complete, Rainbow Dash noticed that they were stopping outside a house. Steele Bolt wasted no time kicking open the door with his rear hooves, motioning for her to follow him inside with a flick of his head. Her eyes lit up as she followed in his shadow, her head darting about as she took in her new surroundings. The outside of his house had a rather bland appearance. Possibly to not draw attention to it, but it was up for debate whether that had been done on purpose or he just hadn't bothered to customize the outside of his home. But the inside was like she had jumped into an entirely different dimension upon entry.
The room that welcomed them inside appeared to be the living room, which had some pretty standard furniture in it. A sofa, an armchair, a few tables, etc. The walls were void of any sort of decoration save for the paint job, which was a plain black. It made the room feel much smaller than it actually was. But what made the room so interesting for Rainbow was the abundance of inventions placed all around the room. She had no idea what any of them did; and she had to be careful not to trip over the many wires that lay across the floor, but it was exciting none the less.
Bolt didn't give the mare much of a chance to investigate her new environment though. Instead he hastily led her down a flight of stairs, which connected to what was clearly his laboratory. The room was an absolute mess; with unfinished inventions, scrap metal and tools littered about everywhere. He approached the table that his Jetpack had been situated on earlier before setting down his pile of the invention's wreckage, before turning his attention to Rainbow Dash. It wasn't surprising that she was once again taking in the sights the room offered, a look of great interest on her face. He cleared his throat to get her attention.
"If you could place the parts here, that would be great." Bolt spoke to her once she gave him her attention, motioning to the table with a fore hoof. She glanced toward the table before trotting over to it and rather unceremoniously dumping her pile of the wreckage. Now with free hooves; she turned her attention back to the messy room, getting a closer look at some of the inventions that were laying around, collecting dust.
"What do you make here, Bolt?" Rainbow asked as she looked up from the current invention she was investigating. It looked to be an incomplete toaster, but she assumed there was more to it than that. She wondered if he made a living from this or if it was just a hobby. It had to be expensive, so she couldn't imagine him being able to sustain his projects if he wasn't earning income. Bolt didn't bother hiding his irritation at her question, a frown sitting firmly on his face as he rolled his eyes. He didn't appreciate her breach of his privacy, but he found himself answering her regardless.
"I mostly work on my Jetpack. But I come up with other things that make household chores simpler as well, though I don't typically sell these inventions. I offer repairs too, but since I'm known as the 'Mad Scientist', I don't get a lot of business." His explanation was the most talkative he had been since Rainbow had met him. It felt refreshing that he had actually bothered to engage her in proper conversation. What he had told her also explained why the house seemed so well kept. It was doubtful that he would do the chores if he didn't even bother to look after himself, so some of his inventions must handle that for him.
"If you stopped crash landing in the middle of Ponyville, maybe everyponies opinion of you would change!" Rainbow teased with a playful grin, though this was only met with another irritated look from Bolt. This time because he actually took some offense by her comment. He was a prideful pony, he didn't need her reminding him of his failures. Rainbow seemed to pick up on this, as an apologetic look appeared on her face.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by tha-" She began; but was briskly cut off by Bolt, which caused her to flinch slightly as he unexpectedly raised his voice.
"Are you done here? You're hindering my work." Bolt retorted with a hint of bitterness in his voice. What she had attempted to say hadn't registered in his mind, so determined was he to get this bothersome mare out of his mane. The initial look of regret in her eyes made him hopeful that she would leave, but that quickly changed as she became defensive from his aggressiveness.
"I was trying to say that I was sorry! Jeez, let a mare finish!" Rainbow responded with her typical feisty attitude; approaching the stallion so she could prod his chest with her hoof, just to drive her point further home. Naturally, Bolt tried to withdraw. Rainbow was far too close to him for his own comfort, but she wouldn't let him retreat. Whenever he backed away, she would close the distance. This continued until the stallion accidentally stumbled into a pile of scrap metal that had been laying around on the floor. The sudden distortion to his balance caused him to topple backwards into the pile; and Rainbow followed soon after, not expecting his sudden stop and abruptly tripping over his downed form.
There were a mixture of groans from the two ponies as they recovered from their fall, though this was briskly replaced with a shocked silence as they realized the situation they had gotten into. Rainbow had fallen on top of Bolt, and now their faces were only inches away from one another. They were so close to each other that they could feel each others heart beat, as well as breathe brushing against fur. For that moment, neither of them were able to do anything since their minds had locked up. They merely stared into each others eyes with a similar speechless expressions on both their faces. That was until Rainbow finally came back to her senses. She began to flap her wings desperately, shooting up and away from Bolt's downed form with cheeks so red that it appeared her coat was changing colour. Now that the source of his discomfort had vanished; Bolt's brain slowly began to function as well, though his entire face remained a bright red as he stared at the flustered Pegasus across the room from him.
"That was an accident! I-I tripped! There's no way I'd do that on purpose!" Rainbow exclaimed as she pointed toward Bolt with one hoof, while covering her blushing face with the other. She couldn't believe she had gotten into such a situation with a stallion she barely knew. It was so embarrassing that she couldn't even begin to put it into words.
"O-Of course! W-Why would I want to be so close to a mare like you anyways!?" Bolt quickly retorted as he too attempted to hide his embarrassed face, though his comment annoyed Rainbow Dash far more than he expected.
"W-What do you mean by that!? Who wouldn't want to lay with me? I'm awesome!" Rainbow countered with a raised voice. If she was thinking straight then she'd probably wonder why she even bothered to interject, but at that moment pride took priority over logic.
"Is that really the point right now!?" Bolt yelled back at her, finally bringing about a moment of silence between the two. Both of them had become so worked up that they were softly panting for air, tension running throughout their bodies. They continued in silence for a small while, both of them sitting on their flanks and averting their gaze from one another as they attempted to regain their composure. But the damage had been done. The atmosphere was far too awkward between them to start up any sort of normal conversation, if both parties had even wanted that to begin with.
"Well I can see you're busy! So I'll come see you another time!" Rainbow Dash announced as she got up onto her four hooves in a hurry. She had completed her task anyway, so there was no real reason to stick around. She would have liked to look around his lab some more, but right now she couldn't stand the atmosphere. She wanted out as soon as possible. Though it annoyed her that it took her departure for Bolt's expression to light up for the first time today.
"Y-yeah! I'll see you out!" Bolt got up from the pile of scrap he had been seated on hastily, following Rainbow up the stairs to his living room. Truth be told, it looked more like he was chasing her out of his house, but he wouldn't have even bothered to see her off if he wasn't so adamant about getting her out of his house and far away from him. So technically this was the politest he'd ever been. He opened the front door for her and feigned a goodbye wave as she took off to the skies, streaks of rainbow following her as the Pegasus made her speedy exit. He practically slammed the door shut once she was out of sight, a gruff sigh leaving his lips as he slid down the door into a sitting position.
"What a day..." Bolt groaned as he rest his head against the wooden door, the tension that had built up in his body finally easing away. He'd never felt so tired before in his entire life. This was mainly why he'd always thought other ponies were too much trouble to have around, other than the judgmental stares he often received from them, they were too much work to entertain.
But even so, it felt eerily quiet in his house now that the rainbow maned mare had left. He found himself idly looking around the living room, trying to think of something worthwhile to do. When that task failed, he settled with getting an early night. He could always start work on fixing his Jetpack the next morning, and right now he wasn't sure if he actually had the energy for anything else anyway...