Moving On

by Manitive

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Of Anger Problems & Horrible Smells & Apple Cider

"So, a Cutie Mark Crusader, huh?" Rainbow asked me curiously, nudging my shoulder with her foreleg. "You sure about that?"

I threw the clean set of clothes from Rarity over my shoulder and hummed in thought. After a few seconds of thinking it over, I slowly shook my head at her. "To be honest, I don't know yet." I then directed my eyes over at the trio of three little fillies, all of them with big smiles on their faces. The first thing they did after we exited the clubhouse, of course after telling Rainbow the great news, was celebrating their new member by bouncing around in a circle all around me and Rainbow. "But I'll be damned if this isn't the cutest thing I've seen all day."

"Y'know, I hate to admit it, but you have a point." Rainbow said, almost sounding as if she just admitted defeat. A quick sideway glance at her face told me otherwise, as the corners of her lips were curved upwards into a small smile. "This is cute."

I clasped my hands together, loud enough for the three fillies to stop mid-bounce. After a second of them breaking the laws of physics, they were back on the ground, all three of them turning their heads to look at me.

"Girls, I really need to go and see Applejack and get to work." I explained upon seeing that I had their utmost attention. All three of them groaned in frustration upon hearing that, deflating a little as their happy faces turned into pouts.

"Can't you stay a little longer, Mr. William?" Sweetie Belle asked in that high-pitched, cute tone of hers, sporting the biggest pout all three of them. Though Scootaloo was close second, followed by Apple Bloom.

"No can do." I said with a firm shake of my head. "I don't want to disappoint Applejack already after just the second day of work."

They groaned once again, realizing that this time, their pouts had no effect on me.

"Scoots, you wanna stay with them or come with me?" I asked the orange filly that was staring at the ground intently with a frown on her face, almost as if it was its fault I couldn't stay longer with them.

"'s not like I can help you or anything like that. 'sides, I hate helping out at the farm." She said with a shrug of her shoulders, earning herself a glare from Apple Bloom. "I think I'll stay here with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom."

The two fillies smiled upon hearing that, doing a little dance of joy. That is, until I threw my set of clothes over Scootaloo's back, giving her a pleading look. "Can you please bring these home before you girls go playing?"

They all groaned in unison, but Scootaloo gave me a slow nod nonetheless. "Yeah, okay."

"'I'll pick you up here after work then, okay?" She gave me another nod as an answer, although she really seemed annoyed by my request from earlier, and I then turned to face Rainbow. "And you?"

Just like Scootaloo, she shrugged, though her answer was a little bit different. "I've done enough awesome things today, so why not?"

I deadpanned. "By 'awesome things' you mean napping, right?"

She snorted loudly. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

I rolled my eyes, gave Scootaloo and the other two fillies a small wave coupled with a "See ya.", before turning around and walking in the direction of where we came from. Rainbow, who at first didn't notice me leaving, was (unfortunately) quick to catch up to me.

"Hey Rainbow?" I asked, casually strolling along the bumpy path that I believed lead back to the Apple's farm. "You know for what I've waited all day long?"

She blinked at me. "Uh, what?"

I stopped, grinned, opened my mouth widely and turned around to face her. I mentally steeled myself to let the satisfaction in the form of words leave my body. "Fuck you."

Those two words rolled off of my tongue, and you have no idea how good they felt. Two words I wanted to say all day long, for all the joking and laughing at my expense, but couldn't because of my daughter accompanying us.

I left her stunned self behind as I walked past her, a smug grin on my face. That smug grin fell once I've heard the sound of rapidly beating wings approaching me quickly. A bit too quickly for my liking.

A quick look over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions.

Rainbow was beating her wings rapidly, quickly gaining in on me. For some reason unknown to me, she looked positively furious, her face contorted into an angry snarl as she screamed, "You are SO going to regret saying that!"

I somehow must have hit a nerve.

Without thinking twice, I increased my speed until I was sprinting along the path, jumping over pothole after pothole, hoping that I somehow could outspeed my rapidly approaching doom. "You really have some anger problems!" I screamed back at her, desperately trying to gain some distance away from her, but that proved pointless as she was steadily getting closer to me.

"I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU ANGER PROBLEMS!!" The sound of her flapping wings got a lot closer by the end of her sentence. I felt her breath on the back of my neck, making me increase my speed just a tad bit more. I pushed my body to its limits, my feet hurting with each and every step I took, but in the end, I knew Rainbow was going to catch me.

"SEE IF YOU CAN DODGE THIS!"

As I heard these words coming from her, I knew she was closing in for the kill. I knew what she was going to do, so in a last ditch effort to remain alive, I ducked my head - and not one second too early.

Something zipped over my head at incredible speed, and as I whipped my head back up, a blur of blue appeared in front of my face. Rainbow apparently tried to grab me by the neck, but I, by professionally dodging her, was able to prevent that from happening.

Lucky me, because I don't think I would've survived her crashing into my neck like that.

Rainbow, after realizing that she missed me, suddenly went up into a steep climb and turned back around, this time coming for me from the front, hooves outstretched as she aimed herself at the center of my chest. I narrowed my eyes at her, waiting for the exact moment to dodge the multi-colored, living projectile.

When she was only five feet away, I jumped to the left, once again hearing Rainbow zipping past me.

"UGH!! BY CELESTIA, STOP DODGING ME!!" She shouted as she turned around once more, sounding more than just a little annoyed at my incredible dodging skills, which, to be honest, was probably more luck than skill.

I shook my head feverishly. "No can do. Sorry!"

For what seemed like an eternity, it was silent. Not completely silent of course, as I was still able to hear the rapidly beating wings of Rainbow and my own heartbeat, fueled by adrenaline, that was just as quick. What I mean by silent was that Rainbow wasn't cussing me out, or demanding me to stop - which was unusual.

I took a quick peek over my shoulder to see what the multicolored devil was up to, only to see her hovering behind me with a big grin on her face. Just when I saw her creepy grin, I suddenly felt no more ground under my left feet.

Completely caught off-guard by the sudden lack of solid ground, I tripped and fell forwards on the ground, getting a face full of magical horse-land dirt. Not only did it taste bad, hitting the ground with my face hurt just as much as the other dozen of times it happened to me.

I groaned in pain, rolling over onto my back with my eyes still closed, spitting out some of that sneaky, coarse dirt that managed to slip inside of my mouth.

"Tsktsktsk..." I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by Rainbow's face hovering right in front of mine. She smirked once she was I was giving her my undivided attention, shaking her head from side to side slowly. "Told'cha you're going to regret it."

With a snort I sat myself up, dusting my arms off, before slowly uprighting myself again. Next, I dusted my pants off, then the back of my t-shirt and finally attempted to clean my face a little, though that did turn out to achieve the complete opposite given how dirty my hands were.

"You could've warned me." I said, giving her a frown. Totally abandoning the thought of having a clean face, I lifted a hand up to my nose to rub it, trying to sooth the pain that was coursing through it. It was a miracle that it wasn't broken, now that I think about it. "That really hurt, you know."

"You're lucky enough I didn't catch you earlier, or your face would hurt a lot more right now."

"And you're lucky enough that you're adorable." I wasn't able to stop the words from leaving my mouth, even though I knew that she was one of the last persons that liked being called 'adorable' or 'cute'. Unfortunately, I didn't even realize that they left my mouth. at least I was right in what I said; she was adorable.

Though that's a trait literally all ponies I knew possessed. But Rainbow was special, mainly because she didn't like being called adorable, what made it even more worth it when I called her adorable and she wanted to rip my head off - which, in turn, made her even more adorable!

She narrowed her eyes at me dangerously and flew even closer to my face. "You really want to feel my hindhooves in your face, don'tcha?"

"Pain or no pain..." I made a humming noise, lifting a hand under my chin in order to look like I was thinking about what she said. "Nah, I think I got enough pain for now."

"You're stupid." She backed away, looking at me blankly. "Let's just go find Applejack because I might do stupid thing if we continue this conversation."

Suddenly, she was right in my face again. "And just so that you know, never, call me adorable again."

I rolled my eyes, lifted a hand and pushed her aloft body away from me. "Yeah yeah, sure."

"I'm just saying that-"

"I know and I said sure." I said, interrupting her. I turned around and slowly started walking away from her. "You're not adorable, you're-" I lifted one hand up, making air quotes. "-awesome."

"Pfff, I know that. You don't have to tell me!" She boasted from somewhere behind me, obviously not getting my sarcasm, her wings beating slowly as she flew after me. "That wasn't even what I was going to say, but that's okay. You just totally admitted that I am awesome!"

With another roll of my eyes, I decided to just leave it at that. "Yeah, whatever." Without saying another word, I continued to follow the path that probably, maybe, led to the Apple's homestead.

****

Fortunately, we didn't have to walk too long before the big, red farmhouse of the Apple family came into view. I say fortunately because Rainbow, after I sarcastically remarked that she was awesome, continued to ramble on for the whole time we were walking. She was more than just a little annoying.

"Only a few more meters." I mumbled under my breath, mostly in an attempt to encourage myself to keep going.

"-I mean, why didn't you admit it earlier? You should've known that I was awesome from the day on you met me!"

"Mhm."

"Ha, I knew it! You knew I was awesome all along!"

"Mhm." I walked up to the front door

"But hey, I can understand that you didn't want to-"

"Oh, look, we're here!" I announced aloud, interrupting her once again, stopping just in front of the small wooden door that led into the farm's house.

Rainbow, though, seemed to simply ignore me as she continued talking. "-admit it because I wouldn't have done it either. 's not like-"

With a heavy sigh, I finally decided to end this and turned around. "Ugh, Rainbow?"

She blinked at me, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she rambled on for what felt like hours about how awesome she really was and how glad she was that I finally had realized it. "Yeah?"

I smiled. "Shut the fuck up."

She looked perplexed for a second, perplexed that I would dare to tell her, the awesomeness in person, to shut up. Then her face twisted into that of a mix between anger and confusion.

A snarl formed itself on her face and she raised her hoof, ready to strike my head. "You little mother-"

I turned around, a big smile on my face, as I heard the front door opening, stopping Rainbow from ever completing her sentence.

"William? Rainbow?" An annoyed Applejack, who was standing in the doorway, asked. Even though she definitely, without doubt, was annoyed, she also sounded a little surprised. Maybe because she didn't expect that she'd see both me and Rainbow together anytime soon after what transpired between the two of us. "Ah'm happy to see y'all, but wha' in tarnation's all that turmoil 'bout?"

"Rainbow can't shut up." I stated lamely, pointing a finger at the pegasus to my side.

"That's not true!" She interjected.

"Yeah, right." I said after a short pause. I shot Applejack a motivated look, already getting kinda pumped for work for a reason unknown to me. "Anyways, I'm ready for work, Applejack."

She blinked, looking like she forgot for a moment that she offered me a job, before a look of realization crossed her face. Said realization was quickly followed by a facepalm. "Aw shucks, Ah forget to tell ya, didn't Ah?" She asked through her hoof.

"Forgot to tell me what?"

"Ah have." She grumbled to herself, shaking her head as if she was in disbelief. She then looked back up to me, giving me a sheepish smile. "This is mighty embarrassing, but Ah forgot to tell ya that ya don' have tah work today. Me and Big Mac need to prepare some things for tomorrow's festival, so we can' really work today."

"Oh." I simply stated, not knowing how else to respond. I totally expected that I had to work that day, but now that I didn't need to, I kinda felt disappointed. Even though helping Applejack out was physically extremely tiring, I felt like I had accomplished something after I was done. At least that's what I felt like the day before. "Can't I like...help you guys?"

She shook her head softly, a small smile on her face. "Nah, no need fer that, Big Mac and Ah can easily do it. Ya better enjoy yer day off, because after the festival tomorrow, Ah expect ya to be ready for some hard workin'."

I frowned a little. "And you're sure there's nothing I can help you with? Maybe hanging up some banners? Carry some barrels of-" I stopped for a second to think of what these barrels could contain. "-...beer? Anything like that?"

I was almost able to feel the confused look Rainbow was giving me upon my willingness to work.

"As mah brother would say: Eeeenope." Applejack. much to my growing disappointment, answered. "An' even if, Ah'd hate to take yer free time away from ya."

I deadpanned. "Applejack, I've been without a job for ages and all I literally did was sit on the couch all day long. I don't think I need any more-" I made air quotes. "-free time."

"Well, that's too bad 'cause yer goin' to have the day off anyways."

I threw my hands up in the air. "And what am I going to do the whole rest of the day?"

"Ah dunno." She said with a simple shrug. "Maybe the t-"

"APPLEJACK!" An elderly voice screamed from behind the orange pony, interrupting her effectively. "WHERE ARE YA? IT START TA COME OUT AGAIN! SMELLS HORRIBLE!"

'Wat.'

Applejack rolled her eyes. "COMIN'!" She screamed back into her home. With a sigh, she turned her head back to look at us. "Ah hate to cut this short, but Granny Smith's waitin' fer me. Ya have heard her... A'll see ya two tomorrow."

"Uh, okay, bye." I said weirdly with a confused wave of my hand. Mainly because of the sudden and unexpected end of the conversation, but also a little because I was confused by what Granny Smith said.

I really didn't want to think too much of it. Nope, nope, nope.

"See ya, Applejack!" Rainbow added, though she seemed unfazed by what was bothering me. But something in her voice was just different than before. It seemed like she was happy for some reason that I couldn't see.

A moment and a wave from Applejack later, I found myself standing in front of a closed door, with no idea what to do next. Plus, I was still confused. So goddamn confused.

Luckily, I wasn't alone.

"Hey, idiot-" Rainbow rudely started in an attempt to gain my attention, bumping my shoulder with her hoof. I'm ashamed to say that the word 'idiot' alone was enough for her to succeed. "-I think I have an idea on what to do."

****

"Rainbow, we are only two." I exclaimed from the other side of the volleyball field, having to look over a surprisingly high-hanging net that split the field into two smaller ones. Even with me being so much bigger than any of the ponies I'd met so far, the net was just slightly lower than back on earth. "I mean, I ain't no expert when it comes to volleyball, but don't we need at least two more players?"

She waved a hoof at me dismissively. "Don't worry, I've asked around a little while you looked away and found two players."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'while you looked away'?"

She grinned. "Ten seconds flat. That's all it took me."

"O-kay, anyways." I furrowed my eyebrows. "And they...you know, know about me?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I just asked them if they were up for a game of volleyball with a buddy of mine."

"Ugh, Rainbow." I started, lifting a hand up to my temples and massaging it. "Even though I feel honored that you call me a buddy, couldn't you have just at least told them that by buddy you mean me?"

"Eh, why should I've done that?" She asked, a puzzled look on her face. "'s not like you'd eat them or anything."

"Of course I wouldn't." I answered annoyedly. "But you know what some of the ponies in town think of me."

She snorted. "If that's really what's troubling you, you're stupid. I know those two ponies from work, they're cool."

"Cool doesn't stop them from freaking out about me..." I grumbled, which went unheard by her. A second later, I've heard the tell-tale sign of an approaching pegasus, but was confused when I heard not one, but two set of wings approaching from the same direction.

Guessing that it must be Rainbow's friends approaching us, I turned to the left in order to see who exactly those friends were.

Two pegasi, a black-coated stallion and a grayish blue mare, landed a few feet in front of me. Obviously, both of them had yet to notice me and Rainbow as they were engaged in a conversation.

"-and I was like, 'Wait, Flitter, this isn't apple cider'..." The mare with the blueish white mane erupted into hearty laughter, quickly followed by the stallion. "You should've seen her face, Thunderlane! It was so good! She looked like she was going to puke at any moment!"

For the second time of the day, I wasn't able to really comprehend what I just heard.

"Haha! This is gold, Cloud Chaser!" The stallion, who apparently was named Thunderlane, answered, wiping away some tears that had accumulated themselves in the corner of his eyes with the help of his hoof.

"Sup Thunderlane, Cloud Chaser!" Rainbow greeted aloud, making them instantly turn their heads at her. After a short wave from their side, they trotted over to Rainbow's side. They had yet to notice me. How they didn't notice me in the first place was beyond me. I'd have guessed that I was at least a little more noticeable, mainly because of the more than noticeable difference in height, than to be simply overseen. "Good you guys had some time."

"Well, how couldn't we after we heard that you want to get your flank kicked in volleyball?" Thunderlane replied with a cocky smirk, running a hoof through his pale blue, white striped mane. "How could we decline an offer like that?"

The mare, Cloud Chaser, nodded her head. "Plus, I really want to see who this buddy of yours is..."

The way she punctured the word buddy, coupled with the wink, suggested things that were not true. Rainbow seemed to agree as her cheeks turned an almost unnoticeable shade of pink, but it went as quickly as it came, replaced by a grin on her face.

She pointed a hoof at me, which the two other ponies were quick to follow. But when their eyes met mine, their eyes widened and a silent 'O' formed on their mouths. "Thunderlane, Cloud Chaser, meet William."

I gave them a nervous smile, careful as to not let my canines show, and a simple wave, fully expecting them to dash away at any second. They seemed to be the kind of townsfolk that thought I was going to eat them, that thought I was some kind of monster out of a swamp.

They stared at me for a few more seconds, before Thunderlane closed his mouth and finally shook his head. But instead of looking frightened, instead of dashing away, he muttered a single that I didn't expect word, "Wow."

Hearing the stallion beside her speaking up, Cloud Chaser also quickly shook her head. "Dude, you are..."

I glanced nervously between the two of them.

"...Huge." Thunderlane finished for her.

I blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden change in events. A minute ago, they looked like they were too stunned to do anything, and now, instead of calling me a monster, they were calling me huge? Me? "Uh, thanks, I guess?"

They stood there for another few seconds, staring holes into me while Rainbow was wearing on of her trademark smirks on her face. Not only did that cause an awkward kind of silence, the really awkward kind, but it also made me a little squirmish. I didn't really like being stared at, not at all.

Luckily, Rainbow finally thought that she had seen enough. "Still think you guys are going to win?"

They turned to face each other, blinked hard, and then grinned. "Ha, of course." They replied in unison.

"Just because he's a big fella doesn't mean we can't win." Thunderlane said, puffing out his chest. "Remember how we've won against you and Applejack? We're the volleyball kings of Ponyville!"

"That was because Applejack doesn't have wings, duh." Rainbow stated, pointing out the obvious as she flew over the net and to my left side, hovering there. She patted my shoulder next, giving me an encouraging look. "But William here, you see, is an alien. He could defeat the two of you all alone."

I was deeply impressed that Rainbow managed to say that sentence without calling me an idiot, or anything similar to that. I was also deeply worried that Rainbow might be expecting too much off of me, because I have never played volleyball in my whole entire lifetime. The most I had seen of it was from TV, and that wasn't much. I barely knew the rules, or how to play.

Which I also informed Rainbow of.

I tipped the pegasus mare on the shoulder, trying to get her attention. She didn't turn her head to look at me, but her right ear swiveled in my direction, letting me know she was listening to me. "Rainbow, I've never played volleyball before." I hushedly whispered into her ear.

She instantly turned her head towards me, facing me with wide eyes. "What do you mean by you've never played it before? Are you serious?!" She whispered back, trying to remain calm on the outside, even though I knew she was panicking inside. "We can't lose to them, not after I called that we'd win! That would ruin my reputation of being the most awesome pegasus in Ponyville!"

I glanced back at our soon-to-be opponents. "Well, it's not too late to run..." I offered her, though she quickly shook her head.

"To tartarus with that! We're ain't going to run away from them!" She said, puncturing her words with small jabs to my chest. "You're going to try your best and we're going to win!"

"I-I don't know Rainbow..." I said unsurely, eyeing the overly confident pair of pegasi across the field. "T-they seem like they know what they're doing."

"C'mon, it'll be good. You just gotta believe in yourself!"

"You guys sure you don't want to give up already?" Thunderlane teased from the other side of the field, cocky smile still present on his face.

"It looks like you're having some problems." Cloud Chaser pointed out, an innocent smile on her face that could've fooled one into thinking she wasn't doing it on purpose. "It's okay if you give up now. We'll just continue to be the most awesome volleyball team in Ponyville."

Their cocky attitude was really getting on my nerves. And I was allergic to cockiness, or someone getting on my nerves, which made the following decision even easier.

"O-okay." I nodded my head in agreement, trying to seem confident, though I was still unsure if we really could win. Maybe, through some miracle, we could. Maybe, just maybe. "But don't get your hopes up to high, okay?"

"Got it." She smirked. "And now, let's stomp them into the ground."

Rainbow and I took positions opposite of our opponents. Shortly after that, a ball landed in my hands, given to us because they obviously underestimated us. I smirked, placing the ball on my left hand's palm.

I outstretched my left arm, and, before I even knew what happened, the ball was in the air.

Author's Note:

Thanks GeorgeFleurParty for proofreading this chapter!

---

Hello, everyone!

It's finally back! I'm finally back!

Back from the dead!
Finally, after a little over one month since the last chapter, I got it done. And what an amazing title it has, am I right?
Anyways, it's nowhere near amazing, just another filler chapter, but it's a chapter that reopens the road for me to slowly get back into writing.

I feel good, I really do.

I'll be gradually starting to get back into my old writing schedule. Plus, I've also got a lot more of free time now that I don't have to work anymore, which means I can actually also write more.

Also, if you haven't read it already, I'm currently doing a giveaway. Go check my latest blog post for more details if you want to have the chance of winning a key for either 'RIVE: Wreck, Hack, Die, Retry!' or 'Flat Heroes'.

Have a great day, everybody!

---

Special thanks!

GeorgeFleurParty
Thezion1111
Frankie2
OrcaBrony
A random person
Fauster

Comments

[King_Platypus69]

I freaking love it

[Manitive]

8023714

Glad you liked it!

[Hein des Nisseroi]

Question: How would Dash react if she is talking about her 'awesomeness' and all someone gives are apathetic mumbles and mehs?

[A random person]

Found a mistake
After a second of them breaking the laws of physic,
*physics

[Manitive]

8024502

Thanks for pointing that one out.

8024444
Interesting question.
I think it would heavily depend on the situation and the person that's doing it, so I can't give you an exact answer. I guess that she would, if it's a friend, just get a little mad. If it's William, she'd probably punch him, though.

But let's see, maybe we'll have a situation like that in a future chapter.

[Black Jack]

I really like it so far keep up the good work also I'm just dying to know are you going to make will and dash a couple?Cause if so that'll be SO AWESOME and I'd really love to see that happen if you will although I'm fine with you not you don't have to I'm just simply saying I'd love to see that

[Manitive]

8030462

Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
Yes, I do plan on making Rainbow and Will a couple. I don't know when it'll happen, but it will happen. Maybe in this Arc, maybe in the third.

[Black Jack]

SO AWESOME ALSO I'M NEW TO THIS SITE SO FORGIVE ME THIS IS A VERY STUPID QUESTION BUT..
how do you do the pony emojis?

[Manitive]

8032229
No problem.
There's a small smiley icon on the top that you can click on when you're writing a comment. Click on that and it'll show you all the emojis you can choose from.
Here's an image:
fs5.directupload.net/images/170318/y5g5tvbz.png