Rainbow Dash was supposed to meet Twilight and Applejack for lunch later that morning. After a moment of hesitation, she asked Lero to join them. She knew Twilight enjoyed his company, and Applejack tolerated him. The earth pony and the human were friendly, but weren’t really friends. Still, Rainbow and Lero had basically just started courting, so she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could. It actually wouldn’t be all that different from the way they normally acted, come to think of it.

They’d agreed to arrive separately. Rainbow wasn’t certain she wanted anypony to know that she was courting Lero yet. Interspecies relationships were rare, and though not exactly frowned upon, they weren’t really widely accepted either. She’d rather get an idea of how her friends might react before she hit them with something like that. Lero had agreed, saying he’d keep low-profile for as long as she wanted. Coming from an entirely different world, he’d said, he had little experience with Equestrian culture, so he was more than willing to let her make judgment calls like that.

The pegasus joined her friends at an outdoor restaurant they all liked. She was trying her hardest to pretend that this was just another normal day, but inside she was so giddy she half expected to float clear off the ground, even with her wings folded against her sides, and for some reason she couldn’t stop smiling. Both last night and this morning kept replaying in her mind’s eye, and she waited for her human friend’s arrival with poorly-concealed eagerness. She explained quickly to Applejack and Twilight that she’d invited Lero to join them, ending with, “I hope that’s okay with you guys…”

Twilight smiled brightly. “Fine with me! He’s fun to talk to.”

Applejack shrugged. “I got no problems. He’s a decent feller, for all I think he’s kinda weird.”

They chatted for several minutes, Twilight positively gushing about a new author she’d just discovered that she absolutely loved, before Rainbow’s eager gaze caught sight of her new coltfriend. She waved her forelegs and wings to catch his attention, calling his name. “Hey! Lero! Over here!”

He waved back in acknowledgement, giving her a grin that made her heart skip a little, and made his way over to their table, taking the empty chair that Rainbow had managed to ‘coincidentally’ arrange to have next to her. She wanted to hug and kiss him in greeting, but, mindful that she didn’t necessarily want everypony to know she was courting him, settled for a hoofbump instead, rapping her hoof against his knuckles.

“Morning, Dash.” Lero said, settling himself. “Morning, Twilight. Morning, Applejack. No hard feelings over yesterday’s game, I hope?”

The earth pony snorted. “Nah. Y’all beat us fair and square. Been a while since anypony beat Big Mac and me when we were on the same team.” She gave him a challenging look. “Next time y’all won’t be so lucky.”

“That a challenge?” Rainbow cut in, meeting Applejack’s green eyes with her own rose-colored glare.

“Yep.” Applejack answered laconically, nudging her hat back. “We’re up for a rematch whenever y’all are.”

“Oh, you are so on.” Rainbow nudged Lero with her shoulder. “Whaddaya say, big guy? You up for it?”

“I certainly am.” He smiled at her, and her heart almost melted. She shook herself, reminding herself that she needed to hide her feelings. She’d been doing that long enough that it should be easy! He aimed the smile at Applejack, an apologetic edge creeping in. “Not today, though. No offense, Applejack, but I just don’t think I’ll have the time today. I’ve got a shift with Aloe and Lotus this afternoon, plus Clockwork needed an extra set of eyes on a grandfather clock he’s fixing, and my hands make me helpful in jobs like that.”

The farm pony shook her head. “Tarnation. And I thought I worked hard. You got too many jobs, Mr. Handy.” Applejack had saddled him with that nickname shortly after meeting him. It had become something of a joke between them; other ponies almost never used it. Rainbow gave the orange mare a rather sour look; she didn’t particularly like hearing him referred to in a derogatory fashion, even though she knew Applejack didn’t mean anything unkind by it.

“I wish you’d quit calling him that, A.J.” Rainbow felt a slight protective urge stirring within her. She knew darn well he could take care of himself, but still, a mare ought to take care of her stallion.

Applejack blinked. “Why? It fits, what with him having hands and all…”

“He’s got a name, you know.” Rainbow observed, a bit grumpily.

The earth pony blinked again and opened her mouth to reply, but Lero cut in smoothly, “It’s cool, Dash. I don’t mind the nickname; back home, a lot of the stuff I do here would fall under the ‘handyman’ label anyway, so it’s actually accurate.” Rainbow subsided. She still wasn’t happy about it, but she was willing to let it ride if he was.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the waiter, who took the human’s order. By the time the waiter left, Applejack and Twilight were looking at the pegasus and the human with a slight edge of suspicion.

“There’s somethin’ different about you two today,” Applejack observed. “You’re actin’ different. And you never had a problem with me nicknamin’ him before. What’s going on?”

Rainbow glanced guiltily at where Lero was sitting, suddenly acutely aware that she’d set his chair really close to her, and as a result he was sitting much closer to her than he normally did. She was sincerely enjoying having him so close by, but she was also aware that it was probably affecting her body language, and her friends were picking up on it. Her eyes met his, and a quick twitch of his eyebrow said, I’ll get it.

He looked back at Applejack, and calmly asked, “Different? Different how?”

The orange mare’s green eyes narrowed. “I can’t rightly put my hoof on it, but you’re actin’ different.” Her gaze bored into Rainbow’s soul, ignoring the human‘s attempt to deflect her question. “And so’re you, missy. Fess up, what’s got you acting so guilty all of a sudden?”

The pegasus fidgeted as Applejack singled her out, trying to follow the human’s example of acting cool and unruffled, but her wings flapped involuntarily as she tried to think of a way out. “Uh, nothing! I mean, no reason!” She blurted, before Lero could intercede further. Smooth, Rainbow. So subtle.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, but Twilight spoke before she could. The unicorn’s purple eyes got wide, and she blurted, “Rainbow! Did you finally ask him out?”

Applejack eyed the human. “He ain’t wearin’ a flower. He say no?”

“Geez, guys, not so loud!” Rainbow urged. She glanced around, but nopony seemed to be paying attention. She looked at the human. “Uh, Lero, is… is it okay if I tell them?”

He shrugged. “I said it was up to you, Rainbow.” He said, quietly. “Sorry I couldn’t deflect Applejack’s questions.”

Rainbow snorted. “My fault, not yours.” She waffled for a few moments, before she finally decided to tell her two friends the truth. “All right, yeah, you got me. We’re… kinda together.” She leaned against him, and he hugged her affectionately. She returned the gesture, embracing him with her wing. The warm feeling of the embrace made her forget that she’d been uncomfortable. “I was gonna wait to tell you guys, ‘cause the whole different-species thing is… well, I know it’s kinda weird.”

Twilight was grinning widely, clopping her forehooves together in glee. “Oh, I’m so happy for both of you! I just knew the two of you would be happy together!”

Applejack was still regarding both of them narrowly. “If y’all’re courtin’, then how come he ain’t wearin’ a flower?”

Rainbow glanced at his face, and saw well-concealed confusion there. “Uh, we haven’t been all that traditional.” She leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Usually, when a mare courts a stallion, the first thing she does is offer him a flower the same color as her coat. Wearing it is how he says yes, usually. With all the…stuff… going on yesterday, it kinda slipped my mind.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I should’ve said something this morning… I just forgot.”

He chuckled quietly. “I can understand that. Did you want me to wear one?”

His quick acceptance warmed her heart. The idea that he was willing to publicly declare their relationship made her so giddy and happy that she could barely contain herself, and a joyful grin spread across her face. Still, it could potentially bring both of them trouble. “I’m not much of a traditionalist, honestly. Let’s keep it quiet for now, big guy. That okay?”

“Fine with me,” he replied.

“You two got something else you wanna share with the rest of us?” Applejack asked irritably.

“She’s probably telling him what you mean by ‘wearing a flower,’ Applejack,” Twilight told the farmpony in an undertone.

“Twi’s pretty much got it,” Rainbow said. “He doesn’t really know how our courtship works, and, uh, I kinda skipped a couplea steps anyway.” She rubbed the back her neck with a forehoof. “He was just telling me that he’d be fine with wearing one, but I kinda think that we should keep it quiet for now. There’s a lot of ponies in town that… well, that wouldn’t understand.”

Lero shrugged, and added, “I’m fine with keeping it quiet. Like I‘ve said, I’m a stranger here, and I’m quite willing to follow Rainbow’s lead.” He reached out and gently ruffled Rainbow’s flame-colored forelock with his fingers, and she grinned at him. It was a comradely gesture rather than a sensual one, and she grinned. He acted like another mare half the time; just one of the girls.

Applejack shook her head. “Well, it ain’t exactly traditional, but if that’s the way y’all want to play it, I ain’t gonna argue with you.”

Rainbow gave her friend a warm smile. “Thanks, A.J.”

Lero chuckled quietly, and Applejack gave him an inquiring look. He shook his head slowly, saying, “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you, Applejack. It’s just that I only recently realized that our two species reversed our gender roles, for the most part.” He laughed again, louder. “And I finally understand what that one mare said to me the first week I was here.”

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, she stopped me and asked what I was doing out on the street, instead of in the bedroom or the fields.” He snorted. “Guess folks like that are the same everywhere.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped in shock. For a second, the statement didn’t register, but then her vision tinged with red. And not because the red stripe of her mane had gotten too long again. That somepony would make a crack like that to him… That was not cool. At all. Even yesterday, when they’d just been friends, that would have made her furious. Heck, it would have made her angry to hear something like that directed at a stranger. Now it made her fighting-mad that somepony would talk to her stallion like that, and her wings flared aggressively. “Who said that to you?!” She hissed, at almost the exact moment that Twilight gasped, “Are you serious?”

Lero glanced at her, surprised, and registered the fury in every line of her body. He didn’t flinch away; he knew her more than well enough to know that her anger wasn’t directed at him. Even if it had been, she’d never hurt him anyway, and she was sure he knew that. “Um…” he temporized, glancing at Twilight and Applejack.

Both of the other ponies looked upset and angry, though neither looked anywhere near as furious as Rainbow felt. Applejack snorted. “Don’t look at me, sugarcube. I’m with Rainbow Dash on this one; if somepony said that, then they got too many teeth and I’d be happy to watch her adjust that number downward.” She pulled her hat brim down. “Heck, if it’s somepony Rainbow can’t handle on her own, I’d be glad to help her kick some tail. Don’t reckon that’s too likely, though.”

“There’s only two ponies in this town I can’t stomp if I get serious,” Rainbow growled, “One of ‘em’s sitting here with us, and the other one would never have said something like that to him.” She took a deep breath to calm herself, and laid her hoof on his hand gently. “C’mon, big guy, who the hay said that to you?”

He patted her hoof with his other hand. “It’s not that big a deal, Rainbow.” She made a wordless sound of disagreement, echoed by Twilight and Applejack, and he continued, “Really. I’m honestly not offended, it only happened once, and even that was months ago. I only remember it now because I was so confused it made the remark stick in my mind. I don’t think it’s worth getting into a fight over.”

Rainbow had the odd sensation of feeling warm tides of love washing through her while frustration made her grit her teeth. “Argh. Well, I think it’s worth getting into a fight if somepony said something that nasty to you!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is that statement more offensive than I’m assuming? I mean, it’s nasty, and a reversed version would probably earn a punch in the face back home, but I wouldn’t exactly consider it fighting words after this long.”

Rainbow growled again, but Twilight chipped in, “Telling a stallion he should be in the bedroom or in the fields, and implying he doesn’t belong anywhere else? Yes, that’s quite offensive. It refers obliquely to the bad old days, right after Nightmare Moon was beaten and Princess Celestia went into seclusion, as well as the period before the Princesses were born and Equestria was unified.” Twilight’s voice shifted to a lecturing tone. “At various times, stallions have been treated as property by the ruling female class, considered useful only for hard labor or…” The academic blushed. “Or… well… as bedroom toys, tools to be used to create more mares. I know there are a lot of books that romanticize or… or fetishize those periods,” Twilight looked faintly disgusted by the statement, “but the truth wasn’t pleasant. It’s much better now. The Princess put a stop to the groups that had started acting that way as soon as she recovered from the fight with her sister and she stomps on it hard when she hears about it happening again, but even without that attitude there is still a notable power disparity between stallions and mares; you rarely see a stallion in a position of political power or authority, even nowadays.”

“Interesting,” the human mused. “Almost a mirror of some of the more unsavory parts of human history.”

“Argh, I don’t care about history, I care about now!” Rainbow exclaimed. “And now that is so totally unacceptable to say!”

“She’s right, you know,” Applejack observed. “If I’d heard somepony say that to Big Mac, I’d buck ‘em right in the face. Ain’t nopony gets to say that to my brother. Shoot, if I’d a’ heard ‘em say it to you, I’d probably do the same thing, Mr. Handy. It’s darn rude.”

Lero smiled at the earth pony mare. “Why, thank you, Applejack. That’s nice of you to say.”

Applejack shifted in her seat. “Heck, I know we don’t always see eye-to-eye, but I ain’t gonna let somepony be rude to you like that. And you been dang helpful whenever somethin’ broke down at the farm. I don’t dislike ya, Mr. Handy, I just don’t really understand you.”

“Well, like I said,” Rainbow interjected, “I care about now, and I care about you, big guy.” He turned his head to look at her, and she held his eyes steadily. “Whoever said that needs to learn that it’s not okay to say to anyone.” She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Still holding his gaze, she continued quietly, “Especially not to you.”

They gazed into one another’s eyes silently for several long seconds, before Twilight cleared her throat. Blinking and blushing, they broke eye contact, and Rainbow glanced around guiltily. “Oh wow, way to keep a low profile, huh?” She muttered, feeling her cheeks heat. No one in the restaurant seemed to have noticed, or if they had they were pretending not to. She covered her face with a foreleg. “Way to go, Rainbow.” I really should work on thinking before I do stuff.

Lero chuckled. “Well, I’m not going to fuss at you, Dash. That was more or less how we got into this, remember?” She looked up at him again and saw his grin. “And I, for one, am quite happy with how things turned out.”

She grinned back at him. “Me too.” They broke the eye contact before they fell into one another again, and Rainbow glanced over at her friends. Applejack had an eyebrow raised impatiently and was obviously trying not to roll her eyes, but Twilight was smiling sweetly at the two of them.

The unicorn giggled as Rainbow met her gaze. “Sorry, Rainbow Dash. You two are just so cute together!”

Rainbow flushed again. “Uh… glad you think so, Twilight!” She was pleased that the unicorn was happy for them. Then again, Twilight had never been one of the ones Rainbow was worried wouldn’t understand. Unlike some of the others who’d teased her about her crush (however gently) Twilight had instead been urging her to act on it for some time now. As for Applejack, she was probably just mildly discomfited by the fact that Rainbow and Lero were being rather sappy. In the farmpony’s place, Rainbow was pretty sure that she would be in a similar state. She knew she was being sappy, but she just couldn’t help it.

They were interrupted by the arrival of their food. (Finally!) After a minute or so of silent appreciation of lunch, the human spoke up. “I gotta admit, Dash, I was a little surprised when you said Applejack could take you in a fight.”

Rainbow looked up, surprised, and swallowed her mouthful. “What? I never said that! I could totally take A.J.!”

Applejack piped up in support. “Yeah. Bein’ realistic, I wouldn’t want to get in a real fight with Rainbow. In a competition or a game, yeah, I can beat her any day, but not a fight.”

“Pff. Whatever, Applesnack. I can beat you in any game you wanna try!”

Lero’s brow furrowed, and he interrupted. “Uh, not to contradict you two, but earlier Rainbow said that there were only two ponies in town that she couldn’t beat in a fight, and one of them was sitting at this table. I figured you were talking about Applejack.”

Applejack snorted, and Rainbow scoffed. “I wasn’t talking about A.J.!” The pegasus explained, “I was talking about Twilight! She’s crazy-powerful, like, the strongest unicorn I’ve ever met. She’s not much of a fighter, but that much magic means she could pretty much stomp me no matter what I did, unless I got the drop on her or something.”

“I’d never fight you, Rainbow!” Twilight protested.

“Yeah, I know,” the pegasus reassured her. “I’d never pick a fight with you either, Twi, you’re one of my best friends. I’d never fight Applejack either, this is all just ‘what if’ stuff.”

“I thought Applejack was stronger than you, Rainbow? I know you’re quicker than she is, but shouldn’t that make it more or less even?” The human asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, maybe if she was trained it would. The difference is that I know how to fight, and Applejack hasn’t really learned.”

“Like I’d have the time.” Applejack snorted again. “Rainbow here’s got an expert rating in what, three martial arts?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, two pegasus styles and one earth pony style. I’m just barely strong enough to handle Rolling Earth. Pulled muscles a bunch of times learning it, got a strained tendon one time, but it was worth it. Wound up even stronger than I already was. Lightning Strike and Feather Leaf were a lot easier to learn.” She rubbed her neck. “I tried to learn Shattered Stone after Rolling Earth, but I just didn’t have the muscle for it. Even most earth ponies can’t handle it, but I thought I’d give it a try. Heh, wound up hurting myself pretty bad trying, though. I know a little bit of Windblade and Vortex Style, too, but I haven’t been able to put enough time in to master ‘em.” She’d been to a competition once, but hadn’t tried again. Mixed-style competitions were fierce, and it was fairly common for earth pony and unicorn competitors to try to damage pegasus opponents’ wings in order to remove their flight advantage and restrict them to the grounded versions of the pegasus fighting styles. Rainbow had dropped out of the competition after winning her second fight, sustaining a dislocated left wing in the process. The competition had been fun, but that had hurt, and it wasn’t worth risking damage to her wings that might lower her chances of eventually joining the Wonderbolts.

Applejack shook her head. “I never even heard of a pegasus strong enough to learn earth pony martial arts before I met Rainbow.” She glared at the grinning pegasus. “You’re just unnatural, girl.”

Rainbow laughed. “Aw, don’t be like that, A.J.” She felt a touch of melancholy creeping in. “You’re right, though. I’ve always been kind of a freak. After Mom ran off, and I started growing up, I know Dad started wondering if I was really his. Never said it, but I know he was thinking it. I was crazy strong even as a filly, like, almost earth pony strong, and Mom and Dad were both pegasi. From pegasus families, too, so I got no idea where it comes from.” She shrugged again. “I’m the strongest pegasus I’ve ever met. Derpy’s the only one who even comes close, and I think she’s something like three-quarters earth pony anyway.”

“You’re not a freak, Dash.” The human stroked her mane gently, combing it with his long fingers, and she leaned into the caress, letting the feeling push out the unwelcome memories. “We talked about that, remember?”

“I agree,” Twilight interjected. “I mean, if you’re a freak, then I am too. You and Applejack were just talking about how strong I was, so if strength makes you a freak, then wouldn’t that apply to me as well?”

“Eh, it’s different for you, Twi. You’re just, like, more unicorn than most unicorns. But I get what you’re saying.” She met the human’s eyes. “And what you’re saying, too. Thanks.” She almost, almost leaned in and kissed him again, but she managed to stop herself just in time.

They were silent for a few moments, digging into their food thoughtfully, before Applejack chimed in. “Hold up, so Twilight’s one of the ones who could take you, Dash, who’s the other? I can’t think of anypony, not in Ponyville anyways!”

“Hm?” Rainbow murmured, pulled out of her thoughts. “Oh, it’s Lyra, Bonbon’s friend.”

“Lyra?” Twilight asked. “Lyra Heartstrings? The unicorn?”

“Yep, that’s her. Green coat, gold eyes, harp cutie mark.” Rainbow nodded. “Moved here from Canterlot about the same time you did.”

Twilight blinked. “How in the world could she beat you in a fight, Rainbow Dash?”

Now it was Rainbow’s turn to blink. “She’s a Still Way grandmaster. Like, the youngest one ever. She could kick my butt without even moving unless I got really lucky. I never had the patience to go for mastery; I’d get to expert and start learning something else. Once you get higher than expert, they want you to do all this meditation mumbo-jumbo; I guess it works, but I just fell asleep.” At Twilight’s shocked look, Rainbow asked, “What, you didn’t know? She studied under Crackhorn in Canterlot. She’s probably one of the five or six most dangerous ponies in Equestria, even counting the Princesses.” The Still Way was pretty much the only unicorn martial art. They didn’t really need any others, though some unicorns preferred to learn the grounded versions of pegasus styles instead. Rainbow half-wished she could do magic just so she could study it; some of the pegasus styles imitated parts of it, (part of the reason she’d studied Lightning Strike in the first place was an attempt to understand the Still Way; it had some awesome stuff) but only unicorns could learn the whole thing.

“Wow.” The human said. “I had no idea. She’s always been really friendly to me.”

Rainbow giggled. “Yeah, I’ve heard that about her. Total sweetheart, you’d never guess that she could kill you in half a second from like three hundred bodylengths away. No idea why she even learned to fight in the first place; she’s a musician, and I don’t think she likes to fight the way I do.” She poked him playfully in the ribs with a forehoof. “And I think she’s got almost as big a crush on you as I do. I’ve gotta try and hook you two up sometime. You attract dangerous mares, big guy!”

“Evidently,” Lero mused, chewing on a tomato slice. He nudged her solidly-muscled lower shoulder with his fist. “I wouldn’t change anything about that, Dash.” He laughed, and she joined him, and Rainbow’s friends chuckled too. She was so happy that Twilight and Applejack had been so accepting of their relationship. It was a good sign that her other friends would be, too.

Not that it’d change anything if they didn’t, she thought, grinning at her new coltfriend goofily and feeling her heart surge, but it’s nice that they can be happy for us.