If ever there was a time in your life when you thought that jumping off a cliff would be a solution to your problems, this was that time. For the thirty minutes you have been pacing back and forth your living room with such vigor that a line of scuffed hoof prints illustrated the distance you walked from one end of the room to the other.  Though your father would be furious to find his pristine bird’s eye maple floors scuffed, the thought of punishment didn’t matter to you at the moment. Right now, all that mattered was wondering how you were ever going to face Rainbow Dash again. Even with your introverted, quasi-hermit life style, you would eventually have to venture out doors again sometime in the future, and then what? Avoid anywhere Rainbow Dash might be? What if you had to go to the library, or Sweet Apple Acres to get fresh apples for a new wine recipe, or Sugar Cube Corner? Sometimes mother would get a craving and send you out to pick up a chocolate dipped lemon. What then? Just thinking about figurative situations was making you sick, what would happen if you actually ran into her?

Your veins run icy as you imagine how furious she would be if she ever saw you again. The Wonder Bolts were her dream, she practically worshiped them! How could you ever face her again knowing that you ruined what could have very well been her one chance to show the Wonder Bolts what she could do! The thought of ruining ones dream made you cringe. You felt like someone was dropping stones in your stomach, and you felt dizzy. You want to apologize, but you feel positive that after what you did, she would never forgive you. You were not worthy of her time.

Then again…

You DID make it very clear that, even though it was a bold face lie, you had hurt your wing, and yet she still had the gall to try and force you to fly! What kind of friend does that!? Probably the same kind that takes you out just so she can use you for a cheap ride and toss you away after she’s done with you. How many other ponies did she have lined up after you? Ten? Twenty? A Hundred? For all you knew, you were just another notch in her bed post. That made you furious. Instead of pacing you now stomped your hooves across the floor in frustration. How dare she, how DARE she use you like that? You had feelings, and now those feeling were hurt! You didn’t care if you ever saw her again, not in a million years!

You stop you’re your frustrated stomping and sit on the floor, sighing as you rub your temples. Why was this so confusing? You felt mad, but you also felt upset, scared, and worried. Every two seconds your mind would flip from one side of argument to the other, then back again, confusing you even more.  Your heart raced, your stomach fluttered, and every time you close your eyes you saw rainbow dash in the same position she was when she was laying on the Wonder Bolts couch. But what did it mean? How were you angry at her, yet scared about how you acted all at the same time? It was almost as if… as if…

… Uh-oh.

In some locked away part of your brain, deep in your subconscious came the answer to your problems. Like air in a bath tub, it slithered up through the waters of your mind and bubble to the surface in a gurgle that made your heart race and stomach clench.

You liked her. You liked Rainbow Dash. You had never had a crush before, but you could tell that this was defiantly what a crush felt like. How else could you explain the warm feeling you got when you thought about her rainbow mane, of the softness of her coat when she stood close to you, or how the reflection of light of her moist, blue lips caused you shortness of breath?

You sat up and huffed. Great. Now what were you going to do? You couldn’t face her, you were mad at her, and at the same time, you were completely infatuated with her. Your father had tried to instill as much old world advice as he could in you, but you doubt that even he had a rule or anecdote for when you make a complete fool out of yourself in front of a beautiful mare. But your mother, on the other hoof, she was the one who gave you the “talk”. Your father may have had given you his talk, but it didn’t go into the more… physical areas of romance. No, it was your mother who told you about the birds and the bee’s  and the Pegasus and the unicorns and how all ponies grew up and their bodies changed and they would get urges and feelings that they didn’t understand but that it was alright because this was a normal part of growing up.

“But mother,” you remember asking her when she sat you down on that chilly august day, “How do I know when I’m in love?”

She simply smiled and gave you a big hug. “You will know because when you do, everything will feel strange, and new, and you will worry and fret and it will all be confusing.”

“I don’t think I want to fall in love now…”

She chuckled and gave you a kiss on the cheek. “Oh but honey, it’s so much more than that. It’s also about warm fuzzy feelings, and spending time with a mare that you like, and who feels the same about you. When you’re in love, everything is new and exciting, and will have no idea what to do next, but you know what? That’s the fun of it. Love is an adventure, and when you meet the right pony, it is an adventure that lasts a lifetime.”

“An adventure”. That was certainly one way to describe how things were going right now. But if your trip down parental advice lane had done anything, it had allowed you to calm down enough to think clearly. After a moment more of pondering, you knew what you had to do. Even if it meant making yourself look like an idiot in front of Rainbow Dash, you knew you had to talk to her. It’ wasn’t going to be an angry rant, and it wasn’t going to be a plea for forgiveness. It was simply going to be a talk, and chance to just put it out there. If she accepted what you had to say, great, if not, at least you tried, and trying felt like it would be enough to put you at ease.

You got up and walked to the front door. You didn’t know if she was at the hotel still, but it was at least worth a try. If she had left then you could wait until morning to find her, but you couldn’t wait until morning without at least trying to track her down a bit first. But was you placed your hoof on the door latch and pulled it open, you realized that tracking Rainbow Dash down would not be necessary. On the other side, standing in the low light of the porch lamp with a look of surprise and sadness on her face was Rainbow; her Spitfire shirt hanging over her shoulder. For a moment, the two of you simply look at each other, exchanging awkward glances.

“…Hey…”

You blink a few times. “Uh… hi…”

Another awkward pause. Rainbow looks around and twists her hoof in the dirt before looking back up at you.

“Can I come in?”

You slowly nod. “yeah, sure.”

Stepping aside you hold the door open as Rainbow Dash slowly trots inside. After closing the door behind her , you notice that she is sitting on the floor with her back to you; her ears drooping and her body hunched over in a pathetic pose that suggest something weighed heavy on her shoulders.

“Is… are you alright Rainbow?” your somewhat surprised that these are the words that come out of your mouth. She slowly and dejectedly shakes her head, sighing and hanging her head even lower.

“I'm…. really sorry about what happened back at the hotel.” Her voice is higher than normal, and you faintly hear her sniffling as she talks. “I feel really lousy about what I did, and I’m so… so sorry for how I acted.”

“It’s… it’s ok dash... really, it’s fine.”

“No its not fine.” She raised her head and climbed to her feet, her wings hanging limply at her side. She turns to you, frowning and with reed cheeks. Her eyes shimmer with the faint glossy glow of tears. “You said you were hurt and didn’t want to fly, and I should have respected that, but I didn’t because I was soooo… excited at the opportunity to fly with the Wonder Bolts that I acted really badly and hurt you...”

You look at your ankle, the one Dash had been squeezing only an hour earlier. “It’s alright… it didn’t hurt to bad… I was probably just making a big deal out of nothing now that I think of it… “

Rainbow smiled a bit and sighed again, looking away. “I’m supposed to be the embodiment of loyalty, and here I am almost forcing a new friend to fly with a hurt wing just so I can fulfill my own selfish desires… how lame is that?”

You shrug. “It’s not lame… I mean, we all do stupid things from time to time… just last week I spent ten minutes trying to pull open a door that was blatantly labeled “push”.”

Dash chuckles a bit and wipes her eyes. “Yeah?  Well… still... it’s not an excuse for my crumby behavior… I should go and let you get back to your life… I'm sorry if I was bothering you, I just… wanted to let you know I didn’t mean anything back there…” The cyan Pegasus strode past you and opened the door, walking out and not even bothering to close it. Instead of zipping away she simply slowly trotted out your door, not even making an attempt at running or speeding up.

This was awful, you felt awful. All those emotions you had earlier, of anger and fear, those were all gone now. The only feelings you had were towards dash, and how much it hurt you to watch her walk away with her tail dragging on the ground. You couldn’t bear to see her like this. You had to do something, anything to pull Dash out of this funk she was in. After a brief moment of contemplation you sigh, biting your lip as you curse yourself. If there was ever a contest for bad ideas, then you were pretty sure that this one would win by a long shot. You in hale, stand tall, and open your mouth to speak.

“I… I can’t fly….Dash.”

Rainbow stops in her tracks and instantly turns around to look at you.

“Wha… What did you say?”

You sigh again and walk outside so she can hear you better. “I said… I can’t fly… My wing isn’t sprained… I just… don’t know how to fly…”

For a moment, Dash just stares back at you in shock, and you lower your head in shame. “I didn’t want you to know so I… lied and said I had sprained my wing… I’m sorry…”

She stammers for a moment, blinking and shaking her head before she stops and breathes. “How… is it that you, a Pegasus pony, don’t know how to fly?”

Well, you can’t back down now, might as well tell her the full story. You clear your throat and take a few deep breaths. “When I was born… the Doctors in Cloudsdale diagnosed me with a conditioned called soft hoof… basically it means that-“

“-that you don’t have the ability to walk on clouds.” Rainbow finishes your sentence for you as you look up, surprised that she knows this.

“We… We were taught about conditions like this in health class… back in flight school...”

“Oh.” You nod. “right… well.. not only that, but I was also born really early, and by the time I was three months old, the doctors discovered that my wing’s weren’t formed properly. On the outside, everything looks fine, but inside… the bones in my wings are too thin to support my weight, and the muscles around them are really weak... Simply put… if I tried to fly, my muscles would rip, my bones would break, and I would be in incredible pain.”

Rainbow Dash simply looked on at you with her mouth slightly agape. “I… I didn’t… I had no idea….”

“I didn’t want you to, I didn’t want anyone to know. No one outside my parents knows about this… and that’s the way I wanted to stay… at least… until I saw how upset you were about what happened…” You lower you head and look of to the side. “When I saw how sad you were… I just… had to say something. The truth is dash… I really like you.”

Rainbow gasped, placing a hand over her mouth and blushing. “You… You like me?”

You grin and look away, rubbing the back of your mane with your foreleg. “Well… yeah… you’re energetic, and exciting, and nice and…” You look up at the night sky. “You are the greatest flyer in all Equestria. I envy the things you are able to do up there, so far away from the ground, in a place I will never get to go to… hearing about the things you can do… it’s the closest I am ever going to get to the sky…”

Rainbow Dash looks at you with wide eyes, her cheeks growing rosy read as she walks up to you, following your gaze into the sky. From the bottom of your vision you see her gaze up, and together you both lower your gaze until your eyes meet. In an instant, rainbow dash leans in, kisses your cheek, then pulls back, blushing even brighter than before.

“That…was for what you said.

“Uh… Buh… huh…” Stammering is the only form of communication you can get out as rainbow looks back and giggles.

“You’re cute when you get flustered… “

Before you can respond, Rainbow leans in and gently nuzzles your cheek with hers and whispers in your ear.

“I have to get going, early start tomorrow, what with cloud detail and all… but I would like to get to know you better.”

You gulp back nervousness as It climbs up your throat and nod, your legs weak from her affection. “s-sure… sounds good.”

Rainbow gives you another kiss, this time behind your ear before breaking away an fluttering up into the sky.

“See ya later!” in almost an instant, Dash speeds of into the night, leaving you to watch her grew fainter and fainter, your hoof resting on your cheek where she had kissed you. Despite everything that had happened, this had been a good day.

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