A Rainbow in the Dark

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 4. Time to Get Situated (edited)

For quite a while after Merle decided to sleep, Rainbow Dash rattled around his house. She understood most of what was there, so cleaning up after the coffee was a snap. She opened the refrigerator, noticing a distinct lack of greens, she decided to finish up eating at the hay bale she met Merle at.

Upon returning to the house, she leafed through his selection of books, finding nothing interesting to her. She fought with the radio for a while, but was unable to figure out how to get a station to come in without a massive amount of static. She did take a nap for a little while. Pegasi need to rest to be at top physical form ya know. In the early afternoon she was woken by Merle stumbling around the kitchen, preparing a new pot of coffee, she had finished off the previous pot. Merle did buy good coffee. He finishes preparing a new batch.

"What a night, I don't know…" he turns around and sees Rainbow. He barely suppresses a scream as he jolts back, banging painfully into the counter.

"Heh heh, hi."

His eyes get as wide as they can, and he puts his hand to his chest. "Oh my God, you're real?"

"Duh, dude. We've been over this before."

"Yeah, but I thought…" he trails off. After a moment he shakes his head, "That wasn't a dream?"

He gets down on his knees, and sits eye level with her.

"It's past time for proper introductions, I'm not certain what we talked about earlier, I do remember talking to you, vaguely. But let's start again, I'm Merle Baker." He holds out his hand.

She happily places her hoof in his hand and they solemnly shake. "I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Nice to meet you Miss Dash." She surprises him and jumps into his arms and hugs him. The surprised human takes a moment before he returns her hug. In moments he feels her sobbing, and his shoulder starts to feel wet as his shirt absorbs her tears. He starts to pat her back awkwardly. Her wings spread to add to the hug.

"I don't cry. I really don't. I don't get scared, I'm cooler than that. But why am I here? Why did this happen?" She sobs into his shoulder.

"Miss Dash, I nearly wet my pants in the trenches of France as a young man. You are going through something that's probably worse. At least I had fellow soldiers to lean on, I had friends. I helped build buildings after the war. I've had a hard life. But it seems as though you are having it even worse. You lost all of your friends. You lost everything that is important to you. And it's not like you can go back. For all we know, you are stuck here. If it's any consolation, you can call me your friend."

The sobbing stops for a moment. "Really? You will be my friend?" She pulls away and gazes at him. Tears are still flowing freely, but he can see that his words really touched her.

He pulls her back into a hug. "Yes, Miss Dash. I am your friend. I haven't had any friends in a long time. But I think I'll need a friend too. I've decided to stop drinking. And that is not something easy to do alone, so I hope you'll help me with that. And I will help you with anything I'm able to."

"Why do you keep calling me Miss Dash? I'm Rainbow Dash."

He chuckles. "Because that is how you address a young lady."

She pulls away again. "I'm not ladylike, I save that for Rarity."

He leans back and smiles at her. "You are plenty enough of a lady, Miss Dash. What was that saying? Oh yeah, dirt in the skirt. I have a feeling that you are more rough and tumble than most ladies." His eyes drift off to a framed picture on the wall. A much younger Merle and a woman a few years younger than him. "And by your attitude, you remind me of a woman I miss terribly."

She looks at the picture, and back into his eyes. "Your wife? Seriously?"
A sad smile. "Yes. She was no holds barred. She was undefeatable. She was always the best at what she put her mind to. The main reason I fell in love with her. She never lost that independent streak. Our relationship was stormy, but there was never a more loyal, wonderful woman in existence than her."

Rainbow Dash ponders his words. "You are an amazing po-person Merle."

"You are an amazing person yourself Miss Dash."

***

Rainbow Dash flew through the air. Wings pumping furiously as she dived towards the old farmhouse. It has been a month since her fateful appearance in this strange world. She had been spending plenty of time with Merle. He made sure to buy more greens for her to eat, and since pegasi can eat a limited amount of protein due to their requirements to have a lot of calories for their flight, she's developed an appreciation for his fried chicken. Fluttershy would faint if she saw Rainbow eating a chicken leg, but that is the way of pegasi, Fluttershy does know that, even though most pegasi don't talk about such dietary habits much. Then again, while Rainbow was not much of a cook, she does know how, and has taught Merle a few things and gotten him to eat more plants himself. She considered it a fair trade off. She had spent most of this day taking advantage of the cloudy day, hiding in clouds and learning more about the area she had, at least temporarily, begun to call home.

"Alright, Merle, watch this," she called out as she pulled out of her dive. She saw the old man watching her flying from his front porch. He had an old rocking chair he would use to sit outside for a good portion of the day. With Rainbow Dash's help in the mornings, the farm chores were done early, giving them time for fun. He always enjoyed watching her fly. But the bulk of their days were spent talking. He told her stories of his life. And he had lived a long time. She now knew a lot about his family, his wife, his kids. And he knew everything she could tell him about Equestria, especially how much she missed her home, and her friends. She finished her dive, and leveled out. Zooming by the farmhouse she did several loops, and rolls, ending in a dive that landed her gracefully on the front porch. She pranced around to his clapping. A big smile on both their faces. She pulled him into a hug then helped him up to go in the house. It was time to start cooking supper, and she was due a late nap. With a sigh she fell asleep on the couch, waiting for him to call her to eat.

Rainbow Dash snapped awake, not sure what had interrupted her nap. Lifting her head she saw Merle puttering in the kitchen. No, he hadn't done anything to wake her up. Must have been nothing. She laid down her head.
Knock, knock. Her head snapped up and she looked at Merle. It was the door. She froze, seeing that Merle had heard the door as well. He walked into the living room.

"Better get in your room Miss Dash," the old man murmured to her as he headed towards the front door. He didn't have to repeat himself as she flew towards the room, barely able to close the door before she heard the front door open. She pressed her ear to the door to hear better.

"Great grandpa!!!" A small feminine voice said.

"What are you doing here?" That was Merle.

A masculine voice responded to Merle. She couldn't make out what he was saying. But he sounded unhappy.
After a few minutes of quiet conversation, the voices raised as the front door closed.

"Well, if you are going to be spending some time here, there are some rules. You don't follow them, I will boot you out, understand William?" Okay, that was his youngest grandkid, all Merle knew of him was his name and he lived in Pennsylvania somewhere.

"Anything, Granddad. We are in pretty desperate straits."

"First, this is my house, you will help with the chores."

"Second, you will get a job, and help provide for everyone. I'm not paying your bills, got it?"

A murmured response.

"Third, you are not the only visitors I've got. You will respect my other visitor, and you will not tell anyone of her presence here."

"Her? Granddad, I never knew you were that type." William's voice turned sly, only to be cut off harshly by Merle.

"Nothing like that Bill. She's just not the typical houseguest, I'll introduce you in a few minutes, but I want you to get your stuff in the house. This old house has a few extra rooms, we'll get two ready for you and your beautiful daughter."

Oh, crud, thought Rainbow Dash, new humans. She shook her head then listened back at the door. She heard the sound of people moving heavy items in the room next to hers, and the room across the hall. She doubted they knew how sensitive pegasi hearing was. After a few minutes she heard movement heading to her door, she moved away from the door before a soft knock announced Merle.

"Come in, Merle," she called softly and the door opened for him, and was swiftly shut. He had a pained look on his face. She hopped up on the bed and he sat down next to her. He looked at her, his face unreadable. She used her wing to pull him into a hug.

"I heard some of it, Merle. We have visitors?"

A long moment of silence. "Bill… William that is, he goes by Bill, was kicked out by his wife. He had nowhere to go, with his daughter. She's six. And adorable. I can't believe I've just met my great-granddaughter. And under these circumstances. I can't turn them away. If you want, I can get those saddle bags I made for you, and pack them with food and stuff you need if you want to not meet them, but I can't turn them away, they are family."

This presented Rainbow Dash with a problem, she didn't want to leave her friend, at least not yet. She was trying to figure out how to get a message back home, with no success as of yet. She wanted to have a base so if she was able to get a message back to Equestria, there would be a place for her friends to start looking for her if they could find a way to get to this world. On the other hoof, she really didn't want her presence here to be common knowledge. With what Merle had told her, if enough humans found out about her, they would most likely have her locked up, and tested, and other horrible things done to her if the authorities got their hands on her. Leaving and finding a new place would be a good idea if that was a possibility.

"What do you think Merle?"

He was quiet for a minute, "I don't rightly know, Miss Dash. I don't know my grandchildren. I don't know how they would react to you. But I really want you around. You are a friend, Miss Dash. I'll help you however I can. I have to leave the decision up to you."

She looked into his eyes. After a moment, her mind was made up. "I'll stay, at least for now. They are your family, they will be okay."

This elicited a smile from the old man. He levered himself off the bed. "I'll go and tell them, I'll call you in a moment."

He exited the room and Rainbow resumed her place at the door, ear pressed to the wood.

"Well, I consulted with my other house guest, and she's consented to remain while you are here. She is not nearly what you imagine her to be. In fact, she's not human. I'll let her explain when she gets out here. I will remind you that you are not to tell a single soul of her existence, or her presence here. You understand Bill? Maddie?"

A moment's pause, then she heard Merle call out loudly. "Miss Dash, if you would come out here and meet our new houseguests."

Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash opened the door. She had decided that her flying out there would probably be compounding trouble, she kept her wings tightly folded on her sides. In moments she was emerging into the living room. As her rainbow colored mane and cyan fur became visible to the two new humans on the couch she was greeted by two loud gasps. Maintaining every bit of control she had, she hopped up on the second overstuffed chair she had previously claimed as her own next to Merle's chair.

"Hi, my name is Rainbow Dash."

This was greeted by silence at first from the little girl and her dad. The dad looked like he was about to pass out, his breathing was very rapid and shallow. The little girl, on the other hoof…

"It's a pony!!!" The little girl screamed in delight as she hopped off the couch and jumped to latch her arms around Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash, for her part, was nearly bowled over by the little girl. In the back of her mind, Rainbow noted that this Maddie sounded a lot like Scootaloo. She couldn't help but hug the girl back. Without thinking, she enfolded the girl in her wings as well.

"Holy shit, it's got wings too!" Bill screamed in a high pitched voice. "Maddie, get away from it!" For all his screaming, he didn't move towards Rainbow or his little girl. He looked completely rooted in place. The original relatively dark skin tone he had was being quickly replaced by a sickly white color.

Maddie looked at her father, "Daddy, she's not going to hurt me." Bill's mouth opened and closed with no words coming out, looking like a fish out of water. The little girl hugged Rainbow Dash even tighter. "I've never seen a pony with wings. You are so cool Rainbow Dash."

All Rainbow Dash could do at this point was chuckle, "Yes, Maddie, I am cool. Thank you for recognizing it." She looked at Maddie's father. "I don't hurt fillies, mister. I may not have any of my own, but I've got Scootaloo, and she's like a little sister to me." She rubbed the little girl’s head as the little girl finally let go. "I like kids."

Bill shook his head, rubbed his eyes, then shook his head again. "I don't know what I've done to get this." He looked at Rainbow Dash, then back at his grandfather, and back at Rainbow Dash. "Grandpa, you are saying you are harboring an alien here?"

"An alien, as in from outer space?" A nod from Bill, Merle continued. "No, she didn't come here on some spaceship. Her world has magic in it. And she said magic from a storm she was fighting zapped her into this world. Well, on thinking about it, yeah. She's an alien, an alien to our world. But she's lost, she's scared, and she's alone. And you may not have ever met my wife before she passed, but I'll tell you, Bill. She would have been the first to help anyone, no matter what they looked like, the color of their skin, their private bits, if they needed her help. I guess some of that rubbed off on me. I'm helping her Bill. And she's no danger to you, or to me, and especially to your daughter. You understand me?"

Bill seems to be trying to wrap his head around these developments. He nods slowly.

Merle continues, "She's been here a month. She says she arrived in our world just as the year started. She's been helping me with the chores. Oh shit!" He tries to get up out of the chair. Rainbow Dash noticed some smoke coming from the kitchen. She responded faster, flaring her wings, she jumped over the couch to the kitchen. Quickly turning the knob to shut off the burner and then putting the pot lid over the pan that had started burning to extinguish the flames. She turned back to Merle as he finally made it into the kitchen.

"I guess dinner's ruined." She chuckled at her friend.

"Those are some fast reflexes, Miss." This from Bill.
She turned to the young man standing at the entrance to the kitchen. "Can you keep my secret? Please?"

Bill looked at Rainbow Dash, looked at his grandfather, then at his daughter, who was giving her best puppy dog look at her father. He finally smiled. "I guess I can. Pleased to meet you Rainbow Dash."
"Well, let's get some food in everyone." Merle said as he opened the fridge and started pulling out more food for two new hungry souls.