//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: A Matter of Pride and Honor // by bahatumay //------------------------------// It was nearly three days later before Rainbow Dash worked up the ner- before she finally felt comfortable trying to talk to Macintosh again. She found him easily. He was working in the orchards, as he was wont to do. She paused for a moment to reflect on how good it felt to use new words, and then crossed overhead a few times, just to give him warning. He noticed her shadow, and looked up. Rainbow couldn't see from this far away exactly how he'd reacted, but it seemed as though he'd tensed slightly. Not a great start. She dropped to the ground a slight distance away. There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. She took a shuffling step forward, and then there was silence again. “Hey, Mac,” Rainbow said finally. “Miss Dash,” Macintosh responded curtly. Rainbow winced. The polite, cordial greeting sounded somehow accusatory, though his vocal inflection never changed. “So, uh…” she started. “I think you know why I'm here.” “Enlighten me,” Mac said coolly. Rainbow took him at his word. “So I don't know if you noticed, but I kinda broke into your room to find your journal to see what you really thought of me but instead I found a story you wrote which was actually pretty awesome and I wish I could have… uh… finished it?” Rainbow’s voice trailed off. She had the distinct impression that she was, to use an earth pony phrase, digging herself a deeper hole. Mac's eye twitched slightly. Rainbow sighed. “There's a lot to you, more than I realized.” “Eeyup,” Macintosh said shortly. “And I'm sorry I tried to force my way into your life like that. And I'm sorry I broke into your room and violated your privacy.” Macintosh looked at her with an unreadable, stony expression. “Apology accepted,” he finally said. “So, uh, can I come with you today?” His answer was short and succinct. “Nope.” Rainbow pursed her lips. Yeah, she had probably deserved that one. “Ok,” she said sportingly. “Nice talking with you.” She turned to leave. She'd almost made it out of the trees and was spreading her wings to depart before he spoke. “You know what I really think about you?” Rainbow slowed to a stop, but didn’t look back. “Enlighten me,” she invited. “I think you ain't got the sense of a rock.” Rainbow blinked, as stunned as if such a rock had hit her right between the eyes. “You rush fast and don't plan ahead. You don't think of anything aside from what you're working on right at the moment.” Rainbow’s ears drooped. “But you set high goals. You're tenacious, and you don't stop trying for ‘em. And you don't let nothing stand in your way. And those ain't all bad qualities; just a little misguided at times. If anything, it's kinda flattering you've set your sights on me. And if you tell my sister, I'll deny it; but I think you're the most athletic pony I know.” Rainbow turned and smiled. “Thanks, Mac,” she said sincerely. Somehow, that had made everything worth it. Macintosh merely nodded, and turned back to his work. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew off, feeling as light as if a heavy weight had just been taken out of her saddlebags. Not only had it been nice to hear, but that had also most definitely not been a ‘no’. * * * Rainbow Dash had made an important discovery: they made apple-scented mane and tail shampoo. So thus it was that she was still in the shower, long after practice had ended, still massaging the lather into her mane, even after most of her teammates had left to go home. She looked back at the sound of tapping. “Hey, Rainbow Dash,” Soarin said, almost hopefully. “Hey, Soarin.” Soarin sidled into the showers. “So, uh, you busy?” Rainbow held up a strand of her mane, showing him the lather on it. “I'll be here a while, if that's what you're asking.” Soarin nodded and stepped in, closer but still out of range of the shower head. “I'm taking Clean Sweep out on another date.” “Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash punched him on the shoulder, leaving a big wet (and somewhat soapy) mark. “That's what I'm talking about!” She felt an inordinate sense of pride that it had been she who had introduced the two. Soarin grinned weakly as he brushed some of the suds off. “Yeah. And I was wondering what kind of things earth ponies like to do.” Rainbow giggled. “Soarin, don't be tribalist,” she teased. “I'm not!” Soarin protested. “It's just…” He sighed. “Ok, first time I brought her up to our training grounds. You know, show her around, give her a private tour, give her a little preview of our next routine, that sort of thing.” “How did that go?” Rainbow asked, already guessing the answer. “Turns out she's afraid of heights. She spent half the ride up puking off the edge,” Soarin admitted quietly, “and the other half apologizing for her puking. So that kinda threw a headwind on the rest of our date; and then she did it again on the way down. Green's really not her color.” Rainbow flinched. “So, really, it's a shock she's going out with you again,” she said. It had not been said with any malice, but she flinched again as she realized just how rude that may have sounded. Soarin hesitated, then nodded, unable to take offense. “Yeah. I just… I don't want to mess this up, you know? Clean Sweep is a sweet mare. She deserves something good. Something that doesn't leave her feeling sick on a work night. Something that'll make her want to say yes to a third date.” “Fair enough,” Rainbow said. She'd already thought of what to suggest. “You ever been to Appleoosa?” “No.” “Ok. This Saturday, they're having a major festival. Applefest, they're calling it. It'll be an earth pony extravaganza.” “I like that word,” Soarin said hopefully. “There’s gonna be games, tons of food, and a race through the orchard so I hope you don’t mind getting your hooves dirty.” Soarin looked down at his hooves and shook his head. “Not a problem,” he boasted. “And, as an added bonus, earth ponies don’t really follow pegasi sports. You’ll be able to go incognito.” Soarin brightened even further. “I like the sound of that.” “And there’s a dance at the end.” Rainbow waggled her eyebrow. “Maybe she’ll be doing a special dance with you afterwards.” She flicked her tail playfully. It was nice to finally be able to tell a dirty joke like this. She’d never realized just how much she’d been left out of there in the locker room. Soarin blushed slightly and muttered something that sounded vaguely like, “Kinda hope she doesn't.” “What.” “I've…” Soarin looked around, and then leaned in close to share his deepest secret. “I’ve never… you know… actually done it,” he confessed. “You what?” “I've never had sex.” Rainbow blinked. “You mean…?” “Yeah. I've never put my…” here, he gestured weakly at his hind legs, “inside a mare's… yeah.” “But you're Soarin Silverhooves!” “Yeah. Silverhooves,” he emphasized. He reached up and gently touched Rainbow’ neck. He began massaging in slow circles, pressing down at varying intervals. “Every mare I've been with, my hooves have been enough to leave her satisfied; and that's been fine by me.” Rainbow whimpered against her will. “Oh hey, that does feel good,” she purred. Too soon, Soarin pulled away. “But what if she does want to do it with me?” he asked worriedly. “What if I disappoint her? What if she doesn’t want to go out with me again? What if- aigh!” Rainbow had tilted her wing so it had collected water from the shower, and then threw it in Soarin’s face, neatly disrupting his freakout. “What if she likes you for more than your wings and your pectoral muscles?” she challenged. “Uh…” “You’re overthinking it,” she said, splashing him with water again. “Hey! Cut that out!” Soarin protested. “Just go. Have a good time. Buy her one of those giant caramel apples and don’t get mad if she spills some on you.” Soarin cracked a smile. “Sounds good. You going?” She hadn’t really planned on it; but for some reason, hearing it aloud from somepony else made going sound like a good idea. “Yeah. And you’d better stay out of the pie eating contest, because I’m going to win it.” Soarin chuckled, regaining some of his normal cocky swagger. “Yeah? I’ll come watch.” “You do that,” Rainbow said. And with that, Soarin left, with a much brighter spring in his step than when he’d arrived. Rainbow turned her face back to the shower, letting the water stream through the fur on her face. Going would be a great idea. Mac would be there, right? Probably; he was related to most of the ponies there in Appleoosa. Yeah, why not? She didn’t have anything really important going on on Saturday. She did have some things to think about, though. * * * The bell jingled cheerfully overhead Rainbow Dash slowly entered Rarity’s boutique. Rarity was her friend, sure; but she always did feel a little bit out of place in here. Probably because she sold more hats and dresses than flightsuits. At the sound of the bell, Rarity emerged from the back room. “Welcome to… oh, hello, Rainbow Dash.” “Yeah. Hi.” Rarity trotted over to give her a proper greeting hug. She held on a bit longer than strictly needful. “Oh, your mane smells lovely today,” she said. Rainbow shrugged her off. “Yeah, great. Rarity, can we talk about stallions?” Rarity blinked. “Certainly, darling; whatever brought this on?” “They’re… I dunno. I'm starting to think that stallions just want to be understood.” Rarity tittered. “And what you've got beneath your tail, of course.” “Beneath my…?” Rainbow spun in the air and checked to see exactly what Rarity was referring to. “Oh. Right.” She straightened up. “But still.” “I'm sure they do,” Rarity said amicably. “Stallions are ponies, too, you know. With their own hopes and dreams and fears and needs and desires; it's really quite complicated.” “I think I’m figuring that out,” Rainbow said. “Soarin just talked to me and it was basically all ‘I really like this mare but I’m going to mess it up help me Rainbow Dash’.” Rarity tittered. “Typical stallion,” she said. “If they’d just step up a bit, we mares would surely appreciate their efforts. I may be a mare of high taste; but I certainly would give credence to an honest, sincere effort. Luckily, you’ve chosen a steady hoof in Macintosh, so…” Her voice trailed off as she realized that she’d said too much. Rainbow was so stunned she nearly forgot to keep flapping her wings. “What?!” Rarity blinked. She raised a hoof and rocked back slightly. “Uh… did… did I say something?” she squeaked. “Yes!” Rainbow sputtered. “What?” Rarity asked innocently. “Don’t you pull that innocent act on me,” Rainbow growled. Rarity tried it anyway. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice was an octave too high, her smile was a bit too wide, and her eyes were a bit too small and doing a little too much darting around for Rainbow to even consider believing her. Rainbow held a hoof up to her ear. “What was that, Rarity?” she asked loudly. “You want me to bring you a stormcloud and leave it right over your boutique? That’ll leave mud puddles everywhere; but ok, anything for a friend!” This, as can well be imagined, made Rarity drop the innocent act instantaneously. “Oh, alright, Applejack may have let something slip at one of our spa outings,” she blurted. “Yeah? What’d she say?” Rainbow demanded. “She said she thought it was going well.” Rainbow blinked. She hadn’t expected Applejack to be so vocal about her support. “She also said she hoped you’d show up at, uh… the Apple Festival or something like that. Apparently, Macintosh is going to defend his turkey call title, and she, ah, ‘reckons you’d get a good laugh out of seeing that’.” A little smile spread unintentionally across Rainbow’s face. That did sound like something she’d like to see. “Oh, I know that look,” Rarity nearly crowed. “I’ll admit, I hadn’t thought about it much before now, but you two would really make quite the pair. In fact, the only problem I can see with this relationship will be getting you to stay still long enough to be fitted for maternity clothes.” Rainbow cocked her head. “Maternity clothes? Like, mom saddles? Why would I need-?” She choked as the implications hit her. “I want to go out with him, not make a foal with him!” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “That's how it starts, darling, and it just goes on naturally from there. I don’t suppose you were planning on dating and dating forever, now, were you?” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine. If I ever get pregnant—and that's a big if—then I'll come here first.” “Thank you, darling,” Rarity said pleasantly. “I suppose it goes without saying that I’ll get to make your wedding dress, too?” “Don’t push it.”