Second Place

by Pecan Pallet

ch. 5

Ch.5

My face was cold to the touch, the snow unrelenting as it fell to the ground. A big flake lands on my nose, the chill making me brush my nose out of discomfort. The road to the apple farm was caked in snow, the few tracks quickly disappearing into the white blanket. I flew alongside the rows of trees along the path. They were bare, but the snow rested on them like sugar. As I flew, I truly hoped that Rainbow Dash was still there. All I needed was a glimpse of her Beautiful skin, her flowing locks of rainbow hair and her crystal eyes. Even if I don’t get to talk to her, or even challenger her to a race, I’d be content in just seeing her.

I could see the hills and fences as I got closer and closer to the home. The Apple plantation was wide and vast, spanning many archers. The trees traversed in long rows, climbing up the hills that dipped and dived all throughout the orchard. This always provided a really good place to practice my flying skills. As you know, there was a small river and a little pond that ran through the plantation, the same pond I fell in a few days prior. Somewhere in the forest of apple trees, there was an old tree house, I believed it now belongs to Big Mac’s little sister. But in the heart of it all was the recognizable red barn of the Apple family, where Big Macintosh and his family lived.

I could see the home now, the lush red paint and the glow from candle lights inside contrasted with the white world around. The sun was disappearing beyond the horizon and the snow was beginning to let up. I slow and descend beside the small yellow fence that lead up to the home. My breath chilled as I stood there. I could feel my blood pumping, I felt confident. I trot quickly to the home, my wings spread as i stepped up to the door. It was engraved with perfect precision, etchings of vibrant apple trees with an apple doorknocker. I lift my hoof, feeling the smooth craftsmanship of the knocker. I lift it, it moving smoothly. But then I pause, all I needed was one single motion, but I couldn’t do it. What if Macintosh’s family opens the door? I don’t really know them and they don’t know me… I try to brush away the thought, but I started to wonder if Rainbow opened the door. What will I say? What will I do? I could be lucky and get Big Mac, but…

I slowly let the handle rest back on the door, backing up. I never think things through, do I? it’s such a simple thing, but I hate interaction. I didn’t even like talking to that one colt; the one Ditzy introduced me to not so long ago. I wonder who he is anyways… I heard a sound, not sure what but something. It sounded as if it came around the house. I move down, looking to the side of the house. I stop. One pair of hoof prints. They diverged from my print, circling around the house. The pony must have come from inside. I start to follow it, maybe it was Macintosh. As I turn the corner of the house, I could see the prints walking off to the red barn that sat behind the home. The doors where pushed open, a basket laying on the ground as apples doted the snow. A cyan pony flies down, rushing to pick them up off the ground. My lungs drop, my heart stops and my wings snapped back to my body. I trip as I pushed the snow, backing myself behind the house wall. I clung to it, the pony out of my line of site.

Rainbow Dash

My heart rate shoots out of the roof, my confidence drifting with the wind. I tried to swallow but I felt so choked up. Damn it, why does it always end up this way. I hate the feeling of my heart beating so fast…but, it always felt warmer when I see her… though I felt uneasy, I look around the corner. She was still there, her beautiful rainbow Mane flowing in the air. She must have not seen me because she was still gathering the apples.

Even from this distance, I couldn’t deny the beauty of Rainbow Dash. I wasn’t much for rainbows, but something about her… it just looked so perfect on her. I watched her clean an apple on her lushes coat, my mind wondering how soft it was. She takes a bite, eating it as I stared at her rose-colored eyes that sparkled against the sun. her wings where neatly preened, her feathers glowing. It kind of made me look back at myself, a dull, uncombed coat with semi-tangled mane. Ugh, I look like a mess…

I pear around the corner again, she was placing the apples back in the basket when I saw the barn door open up. The Big colt walks out, his mouth moving but I was too far to hear. Rainbow starts to talk back to him, Big Mac nods. What are they talking about? I wondered. Macintosh huffs, looking up… at me.

Instinctively, I hid myself again, only realizing that I look even weirder by hiding. I inhaled and exhaled. “I don’t need to be nervous. It’s just Macintosh and some pony.” I lie to myself. I don’t know why I would lie to myself, maybe I was hoping that I would just pretend like it was nothing. After a short second, I forced myself in to the open, only to find myself stumped as Macintosh was the only one there, smiling as he carried with two baskets.

“What? Where is she?” I said in confusion, Macintosh’s grin still on his face. “What are you smiling about?” almost on cue, I felt two cold snowballs simultaneously slap each side of my flank, making me jump and nay loadly. As I stumbled I could hear the sound of Big Mac’s low chuckle and Rainbow Dash’s lighter laughter. My eyes hide in the shadow of my hair, my face hot. I didn’t know who to confront first, to stare embarrassed at Rainbow or glare annoyed at Big Mac.

“Haha, gatcha!” Rainbow Dash manages to say in her laugh. My face flushes red, rubbing snow off me. “R-Rainbow!” I shouted, that’s all I could say at the moment. Rainbow floats down at eye level, her teasing grin wide as looked at me.

“I was getting worried about you.” Rainbow says, her words shocking me for a moment. “I haven’t seen my stalker all week, I though you died!” she jokes, my heart drops. “Well, except Scootaloo…” she looks away for a moment than back at me. My eyes stare down at the snow, staring at her hoofs.

“I’m not your stalker!” I said, my voice a bit shaky. Rainbow lifts her hoof, brushing her mane to the side as she snickers. “Then maybe you should talk to your friend over there.” I spin around, Macintosh looking away with a smile.

“Macintosh! What did you do?!” I cuff a hoof full of snow, quickly slushing it together and chucking it at him. The snow separates as it arks in the air, reducing into powder as it made contact. “You better not have said a thing!”

“Like what, Lightning?” Rainbow whispers into my ear as she got close. Her breath was warm, sending a shiver that shook my body. My face is probably a rose now.

“That’s enough Rainbow.” Macintosh walking up to me, standing above me and smiling. I glare up at him. Rainbow Dash laughs again, patting my closed wings.

“ya, fine.” She walks off to the house with a smile. I felt so hot and my heart was siting uncomfortably in my chest… well, at least I made her smile and laugh. Macintosh moves past me, my hooves trailing quickly next to him.

“That was so damn embarrassing. You better have not told her ANYTHING!” I said in a low growl.

“Nope.” He says in mono tone, “That’s your job.”

What? Me tell Rainbow that I like her? Bullshit! I could never! She will just blow me off! Besides if he keeps giving her hints, she will figure it out herself. I stare at Big Mac hard; I can’t believe he said that to me. He should know better than anypony that I could never tell Rainbow of my true feeling. That’s just so unthinkable.

He looks back at me, as if he knew what I wanted to say. “You’ll have to tell her one day.” he walks up to the door, pushing it open for Rainbow, and then for me. I hesitate to enter at first, sighing. “You’re a prick, Big Mac.”

“Eayup.” He follows me as I enter the home. I hear the door close and lock as I stepped on the soft rug. I could hear Macintosh’s sisters running around the house, Rainbow Dash entering the living room. I reluctantly moved into the living room, everything in the same spot as it was before. Rainbow flies over and sits herself near the fireplace, the wood nice and crispy in the fire. Macintosh walks past me, going off and delivering the basket of apples in the kitchen. I sigh silently to myself, sitting in the corner of the room. I quickly started to feel hot, the snow on my coat melting and making it feel like sweat. I remove my jacket, laying it on the floor to sit on. The warmth of the room made me uncomfortable, contrasting so much to the cold winter air outside. I watch Rainbow lazily lay on the rug, the fire place giving her that glow again. I watched her chest rise and fall, her eyes scanning the room from her angle. After a moment, I caught myself staring at the firm curvature of Dash’s flank. So groomed, so perfect, so …round. I sigh again, closing my eyes as I denied my own fantasies.

What chance do I have with her? Stop thinking such stupid and impossible things.
My mind tells me as I slouch. What chance do I have? She probably has more than one mare or colt around her hoof. I’m just a lousy slug compared to her… A shuffle of hoofs maked me look up, just in time to see Applebloom stop in mid-run, surprised to see me.

“lightning Bolt!” she says. I watch as I see Applebloom’s sister trip over her, full body slaming into the half dozed Pegasus. Dash coaughs and huffs from the unexpecting blow, the sister laughing a little.

“oops.” Little filly says to her older sister. I watch as Rainbow sputters a little. “Hay watch where you’re going next time, I was nearly sleeping.”

The older sister adjusts her hat on her head, still chuckling to herself. “Sorry about dat, Rainbow, I musta’ got carried away there.” She looks up at me, her green, earthpony eyes looking at the mare in the room.

“Um…howdy, you a guest?” she asks, not at me exactly, but eveypony here.

“This is Lightning Bolt.” Appleblooms chimes in, “She’s friends with Macintosh.” Her little body bouncing around. The sister raises a brow, “A friend?...” she looks me up and down.

“ya, we know each other, but I wouldent say friends.” Apon saying this, she seemed to loosen up.

“Well, I’m glad to meet ya’. The names AppleJack.” She says, but I already knew that. “same”

A moment later, Macintosh enters the room, calling AJ to help with some problem. As they left, the three of us sat awkwardly in the living room. The little filly started prodding me with questions, her energy unending. I try to keep up with her, but she just kept going. I felt uncomfortable around the little filly, I’m never good with kids and I never liked them either. Every time we did see eachother, she would normally be too busy with something or Big Mac would stop her questions. So with her older siblings gone she laid up the questions.

“What’s your favorite color?”
“Um…Blue…… I mean Cy-”
“Do you like apples? Bananas?”
“ya, I guess, but -“
“Where did you get that jacket? It smells.”
“Well, I… Wait, what?”

Rainbowdash laughs a little, minding her own business as she let me suffer. Jerk. Applebloom taps me on the leg, “Hay, Lightning?” she stares up at me. Here we go again…

“what cha’ doing here? Did you come to see my Big Brother?” I look down at the little filly.

“na, I came here for Rainbow.” Sometimes I wonder if I have a brain. I bit my tongue, my eyes darting to Dash. Lucky for me, she seemed preoccupied, gazing into the glowing fire that illuminated the room. I sigh in relief.

“oh, ya! She’s your friend too.” I look back down at the filly. Friends…

“ya…just friends.”

After a moment, Big Mac and his sister returned with a few apple slices, setting it down as AJ talked about her escapade with Rainbow. She talked about how it was so cool to go back to Canterlot, commenting about how beautiful it was in the winter. She talked about how she did in the play, Rainbow throwing a comment here and there. She even talked about how the crowd loved the performance and how much fun it was. All this talk astounded Applebloom, being greatly engrossed in her trip. I could care less, but I listened anyway. I listened as the four joked about whatever. I watched as they ate apple slices and messed around. I watched and listened as the sisters get all warm and cuddly. I watched and listened as I sat there, waiting.

Though everyone seemed fine, I felt… crummy… for lack of a better word. I just didn’t feel right. Maybe it was everypony around me… I felt…out of place. Watching this little happy family be together, enjoying one another’s company. Even Dash looked happy… while I sat here in the corner, watching like some outcast. I guess that was half on my part, as I’ve said nothing this whole time. But… damn I’m hopeless.

I slowly picked myself up, the others laughing about something. I quietly left the room, leaving them to their peace. As I walked down to the entrance, my mind filtered through my feelings. They probably won’t even notice my absence. Why should they anyways… right as I was about to open the front door, I freeze as I saw somepony looking at me. I sigh, it was just a mirror. I took a good look at myself, the pony staring back saying, “Lightning, what are you doing?” I stare into the black of my eyes, so dark and lost.

I turn away from her, pushing the door open. The air was still and it wasn’t so cold anymore. I step out from the door, stepping on the recoated snow. I listen to the crunching snow, gazing up at the sky. The clouds have cleared and the moon and stars where glimmering in the white dark. It was a quarter moon out today, the world still dim. I stretch out my wings, pushing down as the snow left my hooves. The air felt fresh on my coat. It was only after I passed the height of the trees did I look back, back at the little red house. The windows shined orange from the fireplace, a place of warmth.

Sometimes I wondered if I was just being dumb. I could have stayed longer, just watch Dash all night. Maybe they’ll think I’m just being a loner or something… I wonder what Rainbow thinks…

Well, at the end of the day, no matter how much I think about something or how much I wished I’ve done something, It ended with me all alone and another moonlit night before me.

Rainbow leans back, munching on the last apple slice. Her orange friend getting up, “I’m bet’n we need another batch.” She starts trotting back to the kitchenstaring at her flank as she left. As dash swallowed the last bit, she lays back on the floorboard, patting her stomach. “That will be mighty appreciated.” She makes her best impression. As she lay there, she looked around the room, gazing at all pictures that sat around. The fire crackled softly, warming her soft coat. She continues to look around, the antique furniture and styled wallpaper fitting the room. Rainbow Dash loved coming to the apple farm, not only for her friend, but for the family warmth that seemed to trickle out of this home, a warmth that was missing in her childhood. But as she looked around, she turns over, staring into the empty spot in the room. Her head spins around the room, searching. Where did she go?

As she lifts herself from the ground, she trots over to the spot. Lightning left her jacket on the floor. She picks it up with her hoofs, feeling the tightly sowed material. She peeks behind, Macintosh and Applebloom not noticing. She lifts it to her snout, taking a deep breath as the sent sifted through her nose. It smelled light and soft, but most of all, it smelled like her. As she pulls it away, Macintosh speaks, which made her jump.

“That’s Lightning’s.” he looks over her shoulder. “she must have left it.” Dash nods, “ya…”

With that she sets it on a stool, returning back to the warmth. She continued hanging out with AJ for the rest of the night, but every so often, she glances out the window, to the quarter moon that lite the night.

Author's Note:

eayup...

Comments

[-Brutus]

Rainbow Dash likes her hmm, hinted by smelling her scarf.