For Lack of a Better Word

by Gunsmith

Chapter Twenty-Two

I open my eyes in a squint, blinking a few times to adjust to the bright light that floods into the room. Once I can focus, I glance around the room; it is empty--no, wait. It isn't quite empty. A mass of out-of-place color sits just at the bottom of my field of view; I look down. A small, sky-blue Pegasus pony with a rainbow-colored mane lies curled up against me, sleeping peacefully. As her chest rises, inhaling slowly, she snores softly, and I feel her cool breath on my chest. She feels warm and soft, her fur like velvet, mane like silk. Looking a little farther down, I see that her left wing, the one I thought was injured, is tucked neatly back at her side; my matte black shirt remains tied around her hind leg.

I watch her sleep for a minute, savoring the feeling of peace that fills me. The calmness of the air, peaceful but not lonely, the warmth on my bare torso that seems to fill my whole body, the general sense that things are good. Sadly, that feeling doesn't last very long; it never does. What kicks me back into reality is the pain I feel in the side of my chest when I take in a deep breath. I stifle my jolt of surprised pain, barely. Grimacing, I slowly take an arm off of Rainbow Dash, moving my hand to my rib cage. I lay my hand against where I feel the burn of pain, then press in a little. There is a burst of pain from the area, and I grind my teeth; I know now that the ribs are just bruised, though, badly.

Carefully letting out my breath, I decide it's time to get up. My gaze shifts to Dash, who gives a little snore. I don't want to wake her up, but I'm going to anyways if I get off the couch. Figuring I could wake her up in a better way than that, I move my free hand, the one not pinned under the sleeping pony, up to her head, setting it down gently on her mane. Remembering a way my mother used to wake me up, I slide my hand from the top of her mane to the bottom a few times, then pat her lightly on the shoulder until I see her eyes open. Cerise irises, bright as ever in the light of the morning, are revealed, focusing on me for a moment. Rainbow smiles tiredly at me, and I smile back, removing my hand from her shoulder.

She pushes herself up a little, scanning around before pulling herself off the couch. Once she's on her hooves, I sit up. The Pegasus stretches, tensing up her whole body and flaring her wings. It occurs to me that she has an extremely athletic build; she reminds me of a race horse, but smaller, more colorful, cuter. And she has wings. She looks back at said wings, the left one in particular, flexing it as she admires it. The wing looks like it's in perfect health; I can't even see any remnants of the cuts that were on it. Rainbow Dash folds her wings to her sides, eyes locking onto her leg. Craning her neck, she grabs a hold of my shirt, pulling it out of the knot. I raise my eyebrows in surprise and confusion at what I see; her leg is flawless once more, not even a scar to tell the tale.

The light blue pony takes a few steps up to me, holding out my shirt in her mouth. I take it slowly, looking at her in amazement. "What?" she asks, scratchy voice filling the air. I point at her hind leg, then her wing, wondering if she understands my confusion. "My leg, and my wing? What about them? They're all better, now. Didn't you know ponies heal pretty fast?" I shake my head, eyebrows still raised. "Yeah. I broke my wing this one time, messed up a trick, got a little too close to the ground. I was good in a few days. That's when I read my first Daring Do book, y'know," she adds. "Totally worth it." She grins, and I laugh quietly.

I look down at the shirt in my hands, turning it over a few times. I don't see any blood on it, at all; I suppose her wound had healed fast enough to stop the bleeding even before I tied the shirt around it. It's definitely cleaner than my other shirt, which is probably a horrible black-red color at this point, and it probably doesn't smell too great, either. I decide I could use a shower, and stand up.

"Oh, Celestia!" Rainbow says in some degree of horror. I look down quickly, following her gaze...back to myself. She is looking at the left side of my chest, which happens to be a deep red-purple in color. Whoa. That definitely left a mark...I raise my left arm out to the side subconsciously, peering at the damage. After a moment I realize Dash has turned away out of squeamishness; I don't blame her. I carefully transfer my shirt over and pin it between my left arm and my chest, covering the bruise. I tap her on the shoulder, and she peeks over at me, fully looking upon seeing I've covered up my wound. "Bleh," she comments, sticking her tongue out and shaking her head a little.

Having grabbed her attention again, I point at the bathroom, then at her, giving a look of question. She looks at me for a moment, then I see it click. "Oh, no, I'm good. I've already had my bath, thank you very much," she says with a playful smile. I return the smile, then head off to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I flip on the shower, getting it to a comfortable temperature before stripping down and hopping in. The warm water feels nice, and is a much better way to wake up than a stab of pain in the chest. I close my eyes, sighing and letting myself relax.

"Hey, don't you always keep apples in one of the cupboards?"

I nearly slip and fall, spinning halfway around to see Rainbow Dash poking through the door to the bathroom. Panicking, I try to cover myself up as best I can, using one hand to shoo her away.

"Oh, right, you guys are weird about being naked. Sorry!" she says casually and cheerfully before pulling out of the bathroom, closing the door. I stare in some remaining surprise at the door for a while. Did she do that on purpose? Or is it really not that big of a deal? Either way, I finish my shower quickly and get dressed in fairly clean clothes.

I walk out of the bathroom, feeling much better. I'm not sure whether or not I should be upset with Rainbow or not; I decide probably not, since they really do walk around naked all the time. I wonder if wearing clothes for them is like being naked for me? I push the thought away, walking over to the table and sitting down across from the rainbow-maned mare, who has my sack of apples on the table, out of which she is eating a shiny, red apple. I pull an apple out, as well, and start biting into it. I try and catch Dash's eye as we eat, but she seems to be devoting all of her concentration to her breakfast. We each manage to scarf down two apples a piece; I recall not having had anything other than breakfast the previous day.

I finish my second apple shortly after her, setting the core on the table. Feeling satisfied, I lean back in my chair for a moment, sighing contentedly. The light blue pony does the same, extending and stretching out her wings before tucking them against her sides again. I reach out and grab the sack of apples in my left hand, and manage to grab all four cores in my right. Standing, I travel to the door, tossing the cores outside, then return to my cabinets, replacing the apples where I usually store them. I walk back over to the table, slumping down in the chair and resting my arms in a folded manner on the table.

I notice Rainbow Dash is looking at my right hand, which rests on top of my left elbow, intently. I watch her watch me for a minute; eventually she glances up, noticing I'm staring at her. She seems to think for a moment, then goes back to looking at my hand. I take my hand off my arm, moving it to the center of the table, where I lay it palm-down. A glance up to me, then back at the top of my hand. She leans in closely to it; I smile to myself. I let her peer at it for a while, then, as her face is hovering only a few inches away, I make my hand jerk quickly. Much to my pleasure, she jumps, letting out a yelp of surprise. She half-scowls, half-grins at me.

"Not cool." I grin back, pulling my hand back in. Her gaze travels with it; she seems pretty interested in my hands. I don't really question why; hands are pretty interesting in comparison to hooves. Her magenta eyes meet mine once more. "Can I hold your...what's it called? A hand?" I nod, then hold out said appendage to her, smiling to myself in amusement. To my mild surprise, I feel a pull on my hand as her front hooves 'grip' it. It's like a magnetic pull of sorts, just without magnets. I decide to brush the issue aside, assuming it has something to do with magic.

She turns my hand over, observing my palm. I hear a whisper of 'Whoa,' and feel her breath on my hand. Dash gently rubs her light blue hoof against the lines in my hand; her hoof feels oddly tough, yet is still as soft as the rest of her seems to be. I let her hoof trace my palm for a while, then smile to myself again. I close my fingers around her soft, blue fur, holding firmly but not too tightly. Rainbow recoils a little in surprise, then goes back to being curious, observing each of my fingers as they grip onto her foreleg. After a few seconds, she tries to shake my hand off; I continue to hold on, smiling. She tries harder, waving her foreleg around; I keep my grip, grinning at her.

"C'mon, let go!" she says, laughing. I hold on a little longer, then let go, finding myself chuckling as well. Moving my hand back to the center of the table, I find her attention is still on it. I idly wiggle my fingers about, sometimes correlating them, sometimes clenching my hand into a fist. She watches the show for a while, until I pull my hand back in towards me. I give her a look of question, then point at one hand with the other.

Rainbow Dash smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. Guess it's kind of weird for me to be staring at your hands, isn't it?" I shrug. "It's just...well, it's kinda' weird, but they're almost like little, tiny, featherless wings. See?" She opens one of her wings to its full length, then starts moving it about. My face twists in surprise as I watch her flex the sky-blue wing; it seems almost impossibly flexible, semi-separate parts of it bending much like fingers as well as bending like a normal wing. I realize at some point that my mouth hangs slightly open, and I clamp my jaws shut, continuing to watch the wing with interest. I recall the previous night, how her wing felt; frowning to myself, I decide being a little curious couldn't hurt.

I point at her outstretched wing, raising my eyebrows in question. She looks at her wing, then back at me; she seems a little hesitant. "Yeah, I guess you can touch it. Careful, though, these things break easily," Dash says with a grin. I smile, nodding in thanks, then push away from the table, hopping out of my chair. I step around the side of the table, kneeling down so that I'm just above eye-level with her wing, which she now holds at half-mast. I carefully reach out towards the light blue wing, feeling like an explosive ordnance disposal expert at the moment.

Her wing twitches ever-so-slightly as my fingers brush against it. I run my hand along some of the feathers, holding loosely onto one with my forefinger and thumb for a moment. It feels like a normal feather, downy and light, but is much larger in comparison to even birds of prey. The realization that, up close, the cartoon-like appearance of the wing disappears, and I'm able to see each of the feathers in detail. Thinking back, the same logic seems to apply everywhere else, from a mottled mess of what represents a treeline becoming actual, individual trees, who in turn have individual leaves upon closer inspection, to the table I kneel beside, where the lines and marks in the table can be seen if one looks closely. Maybe something with the atmosphere here, I muse, then return my focus to the wing in front of me. Wow. All in all, it is absolutely fascinating, and to say the least, beautiful. My hands have nothing on these, I think with a quiet laugh. I bring my hand up a last time, gently running my fingers from the base of the wing to the tip--

My eyes instinctively close as something soft smacks into my face at a pretty good speed. I blink a few times, realizing the soft thing is still pressing against the side of my face. I glance over, then duck down, letting the wing flare out all the way above my head. I move out from under it, going back into a kneeling position a little farther away from Rainbow Dash so I can see her. Her sky-blue face is tinted with a heavy blush, and her rose-colored eyes are filled with panic.

"Oh my gosh! I...I tried to keep them down! I'm so sorry! I--I didn't mean to, I...oh, Celestia..." she says rapidly, still blushing furiously. I wave my hand back and forth, trying to give her a look that says it's okay. Some of the panic leaves her eyes and face, and she glances down. "They'll go down soon. Sorry," Dash says quietly, obviously very embarrassed. I wait until she looks at me again, then smile to her. Behind my face, I store away the fact that Pegasus wings are pretty sensitive, in all forms of the word, into the high-priority section of my figurative memory bank. Okay, don't want to make that mistake again. Especially not in public. My stomach flip-flops a little; I know very well why her wings reacted the way they did at this point. Subject change, think of one, now! My hand reaches for my pocket, only to grasp onto nothing. Other pants...I quickly stand, heading for the bathroom, where I retrieve my pencil and paper from my pants pocket. Sitting down at the table again, I pass her a hastily scribbled note.

Want to help me out today?

Rainbow looks at me, possibly a little confused. "Just doing the random jobs and stuff you usually do?" I nod in affirmation. "Well, I don't have to work today, weekend an' all. Guess you just work whenever you want to, right?" I nod again, showing a friendly smile. Keeping my focus on her eyes, my peripheral catches her wings starting to dip slightly. There we go. She smiles back, large, cerise eyes looking happy again. "Sure, I'll help yah'. You'll be able to help everypony in town in ten seconds flat with me around!" She puffs out her chest, giving me her trademark smirk of confidence and spreading her wings under her own control. I grin at her, then stand, followed by her to the door.

***

The afternoon sun burns a bright orange, just now able to be looked at without risking permanent eye damage. I've always wondered why it is the sun changes in color during sunrises and sunsets, much as how I wonder why the sky is blue. I know there has to be some sort of scientific explanation out there, but quite honestly, it's more fun just wondering. Rainbow Dash and I walk along a familiar path; she leads by a short distance, hovering a head or so in front of me at my side. I don't really know why she feels like going to the lake, but I'm not complaining, and understand a little; it's just a nice place to spend the day, especially the end of it.

We reach the bank running around Luna Lake. Rainbow sits down, looking up at me and watching as I do the same to her left, drawing up my left knee and resting my elbow on it while my other hand lies flat on the ground. I look out over the lake, watching as a pair of ducks swim about near the center, quacking happily every so often. The lake manages to reflect the sun perfectly, as it does with the moon, as well, making the shimmering water appear a red-orange in color.

"Hey, Mark?" I look over at the sky-blue pony. "Uh...thanks," she says softly, giving me a small smile. I furrow my brow a little, blinking in question. She turns and looks back out over the lake. "For yesterday. I never thanked you. You saved my flank," Dash says with a chuckle. I'm about to protest, say that she did the same for me, but she reaches out with her left hoof and places it on my arm, stopping me. "Yeah, I know, you're gonna' say, 'but you saved my flank, too', or somethin' like that, but don't. All I did was get that thing off you. What you did..." She trails off, sitting quietly for a moment. She looks over at me again for a second.

"Oh, sorry for...uh, kinda' losing my cool. I guess I can't do blood too well, and...well, that was pretty messy." I give an odd smile that is also a wince, both proud and shameful of my reaction to the creature. It probably didn't need to have its head half-disconnected from the rest of its body. "I saw all of that, by the way. You..." Again, she stops, seemingly unable to describe what I did. "Well, it was awesome. Not what you did, but...you did it because of me. When that thing hit me, you went nuts on it," she explains, chuckling again. I laugh quietly as well, knowing that she's right. I remember the anger I felt, the pure, unfiltered fury at seeing her hurt. "I mean, I thought I was loyal, but you've definitely got me beat me there."

Another laugh, then a sigh. Her eyes meet mine again. "Sorry. I'm not real good with words. I bet Twilight could say what I want to, the way I want to, just like that," she says, stamping her hoof lightly on the ground to emphasize her point. "Just...thanks. For kickin' that thing's flank, for me. And for letting me hang out with you." She pauses, her voice softening. "For being there for me. Thanks."

I smile to her. After a moment, I bring my right arm off the ground and wrap it around her back, careful to rest my arm just above her wings. I slowly pull her against my side, wrapping my hand around her other shoulder. I see her look up at me in question out of the corner of my eye, but keep my gaze on the lake as it reflects and refracts the bright, red ball of fire in the distance. The muscles in her back shift beneath my arm, and I feel the gentle press of her outstretched wing against my back.

She leans her head against my shoulder, and I tilt my head to the side, resting it atop hers. We sit together on the bank of the lake, watching the sun settle below the horizon. Right back at you, Rainbow Dash.

Comments

[Gunsmith]

This one is a bit shorter, sorry. Still, hopefully it's a good read. But I won't know that unless you tell me, so leave your opinion here.

The next chapter is going to be...interesting. I'll probably have it done over the weekend. Get to your climax shelters, people.

[Tofty]

Loved it, in fact, I've loved pretty much every chapter you've written up to now. I'll be sad to see it end, but I always am with my favourites. Good luck with the next chapter!

[OneAmongOthers]

HEH Uh oh Rainbow Dash Mark knows something special about you and now how to trigger it! Not that she minds it though
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Such a touching chapter! Mark is showing even more affection and Rainbow is happy to finally be able to feel his love returned on to her. Such a good feeling!
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The final part where he pulled her into a embrace and she returned with a wing hug so much D'aawwww in that scene! Such a good feeling of happiness between to beings to finally be able to feel comfortable around each other!
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Also this a great feeling for Mark being able to open up and express his feelings! Perhaps more will now comeout about his past.. Only time will tell.

[arandompenguin]

Heh, oh Rainbow Dash you

[Mavis]

I've been meaning too ask, if Mark will try to explain his 'condition' about beeing Mute(?) ?

[OneAmongOthers]

1274933
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[magmon1000]

1274993 (grabs left heart) Diatatiabes too much daaw

[Adamanthys]

The pure D'aawwwww In this chapter. I can't describe it.

MOAR!

[OneAmongOthers]

"Oh my gosh! I...I tried to keep them down! I'm so sorry! I--I didn't mean to, I...oh, Celestia..." HAH! This line alone was GOLD! PURE WIN! You must have been laughing while you wrote it! Oh I can so picture this! Well done well done indeed!

[RainbowdashEpicness]

Just read all the chapters available too me, today. This is the best thing I've read since yesterday! Wait, that's not long at all! Regardless, you couldve ended it right there and I'd be more or less happy. When you say climax shelters, would a nuclear bomb shelter work? If so, I'm in here right now,I have food for 3 years, and plenty of weapons in case of a war for food. ;)

[Ledomare]

Quickly! I must fashion a climax shelter out of cardboard boxes and glue!

[Gunsmith]

1274780 Hopefully you don't take offense to the fact I'm glad to see you sad.

1274917 I like writing d'aww. It's entertaining to watch people clutch at their hearts in joyful pain. Like this guy! 1275308 And yes, I did enjoy writing that line.

1274933 Oh, you!

1275416 'D'aaaawww' is a sufficient description to describe 'd'aaaawww'.

1275838 *rubs chin thoughtfully* No, you'll need to go stronger. A nuclear bomb shelter isn't enough.

1275936 YES! MAGNIFICENT! Observe, 1275838, this man is doing it right.

[RainbowdashEpicness]

1276131 Oh, I'm screwed then. Let's hope I survive regardless! What, cardboard boxes!? Fine, I'll build that in my shelter

[Gunsmith]

1276138 Sadly, none shall survive. Mwah ha ha ha--*cough*

[Gunsmith]

1274988 Oh, hay. I missed your comment in my reply stream, methinks.

Possibly.

[Emerald Zweihander]

nice chapter!

[Gunsmith]

1276357 Thanks!

I was being sarcastic.

Well I stole your face!

*slaps face*

[shadowless_night]

1276445 i baked you a pie
oh boy what flavor?
pie flavor
*dramatic music*

[Gunsmith]

1279019 Hey, Jimmy, play that one about falling down the stairs again!

Sure thing, Bobby! *falls down stairs, lands on piano*

I love it!

[Llyander]

Been loving this story up till now, but there's just one thing that doesn't sit quite right with me. The way he's moving and acting with bruised ribs. If he really has bruised them, every movement should hurt. Every breath should hurt. Coughing, laughing, sneezing, that should all be agony. I came off my motorbike a couple of years ago, bruised my ribs up pretty badly and I was in serious amounts of pain for nearly a month before it finally went away. I'm just finding it hard to believe he's just shaking it off and going right back to work like nothing happened.

[Dragonofshame]

3858818 there's magic in the air?

[lady Phoenix]

Should he be I don't know, Injured or something, he only got at least a bruised rib/(s). And he experienced pain while breathing in, any sane person would of at least got someone to look it at it.

[Chancegunnett]

damn son, adorbs

[CORRUPTED-DATA]

I liked the blood. ALL THE BLOOD!!!!!!!