It had been three days since the Wonder Bolts performance, and the feeling of Rainbow’s lips behind your ear and on your cheek still radiated like they had been placed there only moments ago. Since that night you have been in a fog of bliss and rapture, passing days with heavenly sighs and fits of infatuated giggles. For all intents and purposes, you were in love, and what better pony to have fallen for the Rainbow Dash? She was beautiful, energetic, loyal, and down to earth. She was a pony that didn’t mind getting her hooves dirty, and she always spoke her mind. A tomboy with a wild streak, you felt you had hit the Pegasus jackpot when she kissed you. But on the evening of the third day since the kiss, a thought entered your head that seemed to pull you back down to earth with a resounding crash.

“Why me?”

You were sitting in your family’s dining room, seated at the spot normally reserved for your father at the head of the polished mahogany table, when you took a sip from your tea only to choke and cough it back up.  As you went to the kitchen to find something to clean up your mess, your mind begins to reel with why Rainbow Dash liked you. As the premiere flyer in all Equestria, she could have anyone she wanted, mare or stallion. But for some reason she seemed to have chosen you. But why? You couldn’t fly, so perhaps it was sympathy? Did she feel sorry for you, and this was her way of making it up to you? What about what Spitfire had said back at the hotel? Were you just a fling? Did Rainbow just want to get into your bed?

You returned to the kitchen holding a white linen tea towel in your mouth and began to mop up the mess on the table. You began to feel the same worry and discomfort in your gut that you did when you ran home from the hotel.  

“What if I’m just a charity case?” You mumbled under your breath as you soaked up the last of the tea. “What if she’s only being nice because she feels sorry for me? She’s the fastest flier in all Equestria, she could have anypony she wanted…. Why does she want a pony who can’t fly then? Why does she want me?”

Your question is answered with a loud rap on the front door. You almost drop the sopping wet towel, in the process of turning your head towards the direction of the sound. You weren’t expecting anyone, so who could be at the door? Making a quick stop in the kitchen to drop off the tea towel in the sink, you quickly make your way to the living room and press your cheek up against the front door, closing one eye as you use the other to look through the peephole. Outside, through the fish eye bubble of the curved glass In the peephole, you see Rainbow Dash, looking from side to side and scratching her mane, before knocking on the door again. Your heart momentarily freezes like an apple in winter when you see the Pegasus of your affections standing outside, with less than a foot of wood and metal in between you two.

What was she doing here, what did she want? You sigh and lean your head against the door, wondering what kind of all powerful deity has a sense of humor sick enough to bring the pony of your dreams to your door, not even ten minutes after you were doubting her affection for you. Whatever being it was that was responsible for this, you hoped that they were having a great laugh at your expense. After a few deep breathes, and one more set of knocks on the door, you press down on the metal latch just above the handle and pull on it just enough to where you can poke your head out enough to see Rainbow standing there, a smile on her face when she see’s you.

“Hey you!” her smile extends almost from ear to ear, but you are unsure if it is one of sympathy, lust, or love.

“Oh, Hey Rainbow. What brings you here?” You’re delighted to see her, but you don’t want her to know that just yet. Not until you were sure about how she felt about you.

“I was passing by on my way to bring in the clouds for tonight’s thunder storm and I wondered if maybe you wanted to come and watch? It’s pretty cool, at least, I think so.” She smiles at you as you think it over.  You had always wondered how the storms were planned and put together, and here was your chance.

“Sure, sounds like fun.”  You smile at her as she backs up, giving you room to open the door and step out into the soft glow of evening light. As you turn your back to Rainbow and shut the door, you feel the familiar sensation of lips brush against your cheek.  You shiver as you feel the cold, slightly wet tingle of Rainbow’s mouth.  

“C’mon.” Rainbow blushed as you turned around to look at her, you blushing as well.  “My shift doesn’t start for an hour, we can…walk… together.” You can tell by the pause in her voice that the idea of walking for long distances is somewhat foreign to her.

“You don’t have to… you can fly ahead and I’ll meet you where ever it is we’re going.” The idea of walking with dash pleases you, but you don’t want her go about making sacrifices on your behalf.

“It’s cool, no worries. Besides… I wanna… get to know you. “ She smiled and wrapped her right foreleg around your left. You’re a bit surprised by this, holding hooves is something you had only fantasized about before. But you smiled, stepping closer to her until your shoulders lightly touch. Together, the two of you begin down the dirt path that leads from your house to Ponyville, and for a moment, you both blush in silence, thinking of the other.

“So… What do you want to know about me?”

Rainbow takes a moment to look up at the sky and think for a second. “Well… uh… What do your parents do for a living?”

For a split second, you feel your heart leap up into your throat and lodge itself in your windpipe like a wad of bile. But before your mind can come up with a clever lie, or a way to change the conversation, you swallow that bile, and prepare yourself to tell her the truth. The truth about you, and the truth about your family. Yes you were nervous, and with good reason. You learned from experience that when told about your wealth, ponies would re-act in one of two ways. Some would suck up to you, pretend to be your friend in order to get money, while others would automatically assume that you were a spoiled brat and got whatever you wanted. But something about the way Dash was looking at you, a smile on her face and her magenta eyes looking back at you, made you think that she was different.

“My father… owns several vineyards throughout Equestria, and is the owner of a wine label.”

“That’s pretty cool! What wine is it?”

You blush a bit and shrug. “Oh, you know… “Pinot Noir”

Dash stopped in her tracks, her leg locking around yours and almost causing you to trip.

“Your dad is THE Pinot Noir? As in, THE Pinot Noir wine? Are you serious!?”

You blush, nodding. Apparently she was a fan. “Yeah, that’s the one. “Pinot Noir Presents!” Started that wine himself when he was a little younger than me.”

“Wow… and your mom?”

You smile, feeling a little better about talking about your family. “She runs a flower arrangement business. It’s pretty prestigious, but she doesn’t advertise so she relies on the more high profile clients of my fathers to call her up for events. She also is the heir to her father’s company, he invented those flavored bits that working ponies use.”

Rainbow blushed when she heard this, looking down at her hooves as the two of you continued to walk on. “I like the green apple flavored ones….”

“Oh really?” You’re surprised to hear her say this. “I didn’t know you used them. Is weather work really that strenuous?”

“No…” she shook her head and blushed brighter.

“Oh…  Oh!” You blush when you understand what she means.

“Sorry… I’m a little nervous…”

“You? Nervous?” Your stunned by Rainbow Dash, fastest flier In all of Equestria, admitting that she was nervous. “Why are you nervous? You pulled off the “Sonic Rainboom”, how can you possibly be nervous after that?”

“Because…” Rainbow looked away sheepishly as the two of you passed the “Now Entering Ponyville” sign. “I’ve… always… kinda liked you. “

This time it Is you who stops in your tracks, almost causing Rainbow to trip. She liked you! She always had! This was news enough to make your heart dance and your soul soar. That is, until you remember the question that had been plaguing you earlier.

“Why me?”

Rainbow looks at you in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Well… you could have anypony you want… your Rainbow Dash. So, why do you want a flightless pegasus like me?”

“Well…” Rainbow’s voice trailed off as she looked up to the sky and thought. Was this a good sign? One would think that if you really liked someone you could easily call to mind the reason you liked them. You knew why you liked Rainbow Dash and could call fourth a myriad of reasons to back up your claim at the drop of a hat. She was fun, energetic, cute, and when you were with her, you felt like nothing in the world could touch you. So why was she having such a hard time?

“Um… I dunno… you’re nice… and you went to the show with me, even after I...made an ass out of myself… and… when you told me about how you couldn’t fly… I felt really bad for you…”

“Wait… you felt bad for me?” You unhook your leg from around Dash’s and give her a skeptical look.

“Well, yeah… I mean... you can’t fly… and you’re a pegasus… that’s kinda  raw deal if you ask me.” She smiled at you, but you were no longer in the mood. You felt hurt, betrayed; that she only liked you because she fault sorry for you.

“I’m not a charity case, Dash.”

The smile fell from her face as she looked at you in mild surprise. “Say what?”

“I said, I’m not a charity case!” Your voice grew a bit higher as you stepped closer to Dash, her shrinking back a bit in response. You knew it. You knew telling her about your wings would come back and bite you in the flank. This was exactly why you didn’t tell people about your wings, or your hooves. Your wings didn’t make you who you were, and while you wished you could fly, you didn’t let the lack of that ability define who you were.

“Whoa… hey calm down I didn’t mean…”

“You didn’t mean what? Is the only reason you like me because you feel sorry for me?”

“No! no it’s not like that! I mean… I … I do feel sorry….. but I…”

“So that’s it? You just… feel sorry for me?”

“No! I just… I don’t….”

You sigh and look at the ground. You knew it was to good to be true. She felt sorry for you, and even if she claims she didn’t, she couldn’t even come up with another reason. You felt your heart sink like a rock in a lake and began to walk back down the path towards your home.

“Look Dash… I like you… a lot. But if you just like me because you feel sorry for me, then I don’t think we can have a real relationship.” With that, you break into a trot and speed back to your home, tears stinging your eyes as you leave Dash behind you for a second time.

Next Chapter: The Storm Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes