Peter and Rainbow Dash blushed, staring back at the ponies beneath them.

"Ah trust that kissin' is the most that y'all are doin'?"

"Applejack! That's so rude! You shouldn't have interrupted them!"

"Sorry, Twi', but Ah thought they would like to hear the news?"

"Wait, what news?"

Pinkie Pie jumped up in the air, shouting the answer to Peter's question.

"Spike and Rarity are dating now, too!"

Rainbow Dash smiled wide, still lying on Peter's chest, wings wrapped around him.

"Really? That's awesome!"

Peter smiled as well.

"Where are they?"

"Asleep. Spike's going to go through a huge growth spurt, and when he wakes up, he's going to be as tall as you, Peter."

"Aw, sweet! That is bad, ass!"

"Bad ass?"

"Awesome. I mean, seriously, how often do you get to be friends with a giant dragon?"

"I guess you're right."

"You know, you're pretty bad ass yourself, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash smiled at him, and Peter fought hard not to kiss her once more.

Not now...not when everypony is watching...it would be inappropriate...

"Well, I'll let you two have some...privacy."

Twilight threw a glance at Applejack, the orange work pony grunting as the screens were magically lowered once more.

"Ah'm sorry, Twi'! Ah'm jus'...worried. Ah mean, Ah'm happy for R.D., and Ah know that he's real nice and all, but can y'all blame me for bein' suspicious? Ah mean...they've known each other for less than a week!"

Fluttershy cut across, not letting the lavender unicorn answer.

"Listen to me, Applejack...I'm worried, too. But don't you dare try to split them up, ever. Rainbow Dash has never been so...open, or happy. I know that she's always happy, but that's just a show. Don't you remember what I said to you all before?"

Applejack sighed, and Twilight backed off slightly, knowing all to well that Fluttershy would stop at nothing to keep the new couple together...

"Yes, Fluttershy, I remember...that confidence is a shell, and she's really very insecure, and the fact that she's so open with Peter, and even told him about the dreams, show that they're practically made for each other..."

Applejack sighed, not knowing anything about the dreams past the fact that they were 'terrible.'

"Ah wish y'all would tell me what her dreams were..."

"We don't know, Applejack. She only told Peter about them, in depth."

Twilight nodded, agreeing with Fluttershy from behind a book on dragon growth spurts, Pinkie Pie pouring over her shoulder without the unicorn even knowing.

Applejack sighed, and was about to walk back to her compartment, when the train screeched to a halt.

"What in the hay?"

The intercom crackled to life, even as Rainbow Dash fell asleep, silent thoughts making a thunderstorm in Peter's mind, blocking off the outside world...

What the fuck am I doing...I just kissed a horse...

She may have emotions, and be human in mind, but she...she's not!

But...I love her...

She's amazing, nice, caring, awesome, beautiful, and she's just...she's just her.

...

I just kissed a horse!

I mean, ponies and humans just don't go hand in hand...

he looked down at the sleeping Pegasus, love bursting from his heart and obliterating road blocks as she rubbed up against his body, smiling as she breathed gently in her sleep.

But they do go hoof in hand...

He traced the curves of her face with a hand, his body covered with a cold sweat as he traced the large curve of her muzzle.

She's a horse...she's a pony, correction...But...

He moved his hand to her wing, preening her slowly and carefully.

Do I love her enough to truly see past that?

He took a healthy sigh from the crisp air.

I kissed her before...of course I do!

But...I kissed her in the moment...

Because I love her...

Still preening the Pegasus' wing, he wrapped his other arm around her, the cyan Pegasus smiling as the touch woke her up.

"I can't sleep...I'm too excited..."

"About what?"

"Spike and Rarity...and you and I."

"I am too...but, what's up between Spike and Rarity?"

"Well, Spike's been in love with Rarity for about two years, and Rarity has obviously been as well. It's so awesome that they're finally together!"

Peter smiled, but then put a hand to his head, grimacing as his head spun, swimming in hunger.

"Ugh...I am ridiculously hungry right now..."

He immediately bit his tongue, regretting saying it, closing his eyes tighter.

"Sorry..."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For complaining. I shouldn't complain, I'm going to be with you at the end of the week! I can withstand one day of fasting for that, and even more..."

Rainbow Dash sighed, and Peter removed his hands from his head and placed them on the sides of her face.

"You okay, 'Dash?"

"I...I need to get something off of my chest..."

"What?"

"We're going to be together tomorrow...like, in Pegasus culture."

Peter cocked his head, confused.

"You said that the ritual would last a whole week...why did you lie?"

She blushed lightly and looked away.

"Well, you see, my dad always told me that...when I found somepony I wanted to be my stallionfriend...well, he wanted me to push him, which obviously means you, to the limit..."

She gulped, all those years without him rushing back to meet her.

"It...it was his dying wish..."

Peter turned her head until his eyes were looking directly into hers. He felt a burst of love for the cyan Pegasus.

I definitely love her enough to see past anything.

"Then let's make your father proud."

Rainbow Dash smiled, and Peter felt another burst of love as he wiped away the single tear of mourning.

"R...really!?"

Peter smiled back, caressing the curves of her face, ignoring the muzzle as he kissed the cyan Pegasus. He came off of her lips just enough to whisper to her.

"Of course..."

They parted all the way, and Rainbow Dash practically launched herself into the crock of his shoulder, speaking into his shirt.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me, Peter! I love you!"

I think I should tell him...this is the first time I've ever told anypony about my parents...but...I want him to know...

"I love you, Rainbow Dash. I don't care how long I go without dinner. I love you, and I want to make you as happy as possible, and if your father had a dying wish, I'll do all I can do to help you make him proud..."

She smiled wide as he put a hand on the back of her head, holding her close. She moved her mouth to next to Peter's ear, and started to explain something that she hadn't explained to anypony, ever.

"You see...my dad, he died when I was too young to see him in the hospital...let alone remember him...so, I never heard his dying wish, until my mother told me...on her deathbed..."

She sniffed, all those years of pain coming back to mentally hit her, only to flood out of her mouth and into Peter's ear.

"Thing is, my mother was always busy...and...when I was getting bullied in Flight School...I had nopony to turn to...or to talk to about it...so, after I did the Sonic Rainboom, I decided that I was too good for the jerks there, so I dropped out, if only to escape the pain..."

She started crying in earnest, as Peter stroked her mane, whispering comfort into her ear.

"That's it...just let it all go...you can tell me, Dashie...just let it all out..."

"And then...after I dropped out...my mother...started drinking..."

She sobbed, remembering how disheveled her mother had been, and how disappointed the old Pegasus had been...

"It...it got so bad, that she couldn't go to work anymore, she was so hungover...so, about a week before she was finally fired, I got a job as a weather Pegasus...I would bring my salary to my mother, so that she could afford more wine...I wanted to help her, but she forced me to...She said that she was my mother, and that I had to do as she said...but...one day...when I came with a bag of bits...she was really, really drunk...and she...she threw a bottle at me..."

She unwrapped her left wing from underneath him, and brought the tip up for his inspection.

"See that...that little scar?"

Her voice cracked as she spoke, tears and sobs coming too fast for her to accomodate for.

"She...she gave that to me! The bottle, it opened the tip of my wing, and...and..."

She sobbed loud and hard, putting her wing back around Peter, pressing her head into his shoulder as she cried harder and harder.

"Oh, Celestia...just...I wanted to help her..."

"Just let it all go, Dashie...it's going to be alright..."

"I...I dropped the bits, and fled to my uncle...thing is, my uncle...he...he used to own the Rainbow Factory, before he sold it to Celestia for a retirement home...he...he let me live there...and...two days after he took me in...he visited my mother..."

Rainbow Dash sobbed hard, her chest hurting with all the crying.

"Just let it all out, Dashie..."

"He...he found her on the floor...fifty wine bottles, emptied...she was almost dead..."

Peter wiped his eyes lightly, as he was now crying as well.

And I thought that I had a tough life...I never appreciated how amazing my life is...mom, dad, I'm sorry...

"She...she was admitted to the hospital, and diagnosed with alcohol poisoning, which...which there's no cure for, unfortuantely...I visited her that night, and she said something to me that I'll never forget..."

She sobbed, crying hard on Peter's shoulder, in contrast to the happy Pegasus she had been not twenty minutes before that...

"She said...'Rainbow Dash...I'm sorry...and your father...had a dying wish...he wants you to...do the mare and stallionfriend ritual...for a full week...when you finally find that special somepony...you're brilliant, and I haven't been a good mother...and...I love you...'and then, she closed her eyes, and she...she...she..."

Peter kissed her on the forehead, his own tears mixing with hers.

"It's okay...you don't have to say it, Dashie..."

"No, I do...she died..."

On the word 'died', all of her tears poured out, and she sobbed into Peter's shoulder, grateful that the screens around the hammock blocked out not only vision, but hearing as well...

Peter held her tight, tighter than he had ever held her before, pressing her head onto his shoulder, rubbing her back as he did so.

"Rainbow Dash...if your parents could talk to you right now...they would tell you how proud they are of you...you're an amazing Pegasus, Rainbow Dash...your parents would be so proud..."

Rainbow Dash didn't respond, and Peter didn't expect her to. Normally, when people fall asleep, they're not good at talking back to you.

"I love you, Dashie..."

He closed his eyes, knowing now that he had been a fool to ever doubt his love for her...

His breathing calmed as he fell asleep, hunger gnawing at his stomach, love filling the gaps.

I wrote this for one reason, and one reason only...

For MOAR characterization.

Not padding.

I never pad.

Kinda.