"Why the buck would you say that!?" The enraged mare shrieked as the pillow came down on Peter with yet another satisfying thud. As Rainbow Dash assaulted him, Peter continuously attempted to get a word in edgewise, and consecutive attempts to explain and apologize ended in yet another thud.

"Stop!" Peter finally shouted, having been pushed back against the wall by the onslaught of attacks. Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, pillow at the ready, as Peter tried to explain. "I say really stupid things when I get angry," he began, regret draped over his every word like a fine gossamer. "I never mean them. I'm sorry, and I really didn't mean that."

Rainbow Dash swallowed, her head pounding as a mad tempest raged within, whispering questions to her. "But how could you say...That?" She spat, her wings tensing, her hooves squeezing the pillow even tighter. "You're talking about my home, Peter. This is our home, and where our foal will grow up. You may not think much of it...But if you could save your home instead of watch it burn, would you? Even if it meant sacrificing yourself?"

Peter blinked, shocked at the question, its implications, and who it had come from. "I never knew you were a philosopher," Peter teased. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in evident annoyance, but humored him all the same. "Spending a bunch of time with an egghead like you can do that," she muttered with a smirk. The smirk faded as she sighed, "And seeing all of Ponyville burn down, and my friends die, over and over again in those dreams...It's given me a lot to think about. I know I act like a kid sometimes, but I've been forced to maturity, as well."

Peter rolled his shoulders, feeling like an idiot. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I never gave much thought to how those dreams would've changed you...As in, how you think, and what you believe..."

She nodded, and quickly changed the subject. She felt it was best to leave those dark memories as just that: memories. "So? Would you?"

Peter looked her right in the eye, and nodded. "Yeah," he finally responded. "Yeah, I would probably try to save America. Even if it meant sacrificing what made me...Me. There would be too many innocent people at risk, and while America's government can go ahead and suck my cock, America is my country, and it's my home, and by God, if I can protect it, I will." Peter sighed, and flexed his arm, his muscles sore from that...so-called dream. "And besides," he continued, "I would actually be able to. I can use firearms, and while I don't have training, I know how to use guns. I could fire a pistol, I could fire a shotgun, and I could also fire a machine gun." Rainbow Dash's brow creased, as she now realized that the heart of Peter's reluctance wasn't just his past. "But I can't use the weapons that this world has to offer. I can't wield a sword; I'm too weak. And I honestly don't want to. I don't want to have to build myself up to wield a sword, I don't want to have to learn how to fight with one. I just want to have some technology from my world, because then I would actually be able to fight."

Rainbow Dash's jaw clenched, but Peter seemed not to notice. However, he did notice the pillow making contact with his face, and hard. He opened his mouth to protest, but Rainbow Dash immediately cut him off. "So, you're just too lazy? Is that it?" She spat at him through clenched teeth, rage surging through her. "You're too lazy to learn how to use a sword? Just because you have to do some actual work to save Equestria, you don't want to do it?"

Peter shook his head, but Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a loud huff. "I'm not too lazy! I just want a gun, I can't use a sword! I know I can't use a gun, and I don't want to have to learn how to use a sword! Do you have any idea how much hard work that would be?" He cringed as he spoke, and sheepishly shrank back with a small frown. "That does sound kind of lazy, doesn't it..."

"Yeah, no bucking shit, asshole," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking away from him in disdain. When she looked back at him, she felt nothing but disappointment. "I'm marrying somepony who won't even go to the gym to help save Equestria," Rainbow Dash mused. She chuckled to herself, and dropped the pillow on the floor next to Peter. "Somepony who would lie about his reluctance, just to get out of the work." The pointed words jabbed at Peter, the disappointed venom coating each of the syllables flowing straight to his heart. "Do you even care about your innocence? Your past? And tell me the truth, or I swear, I will bite your dick off."

Peter swallowed, and looked up at Rainbow Dash, without so much as a single emotion visible in his eyes. "No," he responded. "I don't. My childhood ended long ago, and I've already grown up. And I don't care about innocence. No, I don't understand death and its implications, and nor do I comprehend what it truly means to take a life, and in that, I guess I am innocent. But I know that I could handle it. It's not a matter of me being a child." He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "It's just that I don't want to give up what I have now. I don't want to give up these care-free days on vacation, I don't want to give up sleeping with you at night."

"Bullshit," Rainbow Dash immediately spat at him. "I'm sick of you lying. You're just too lazy to be strong enough to wield a sword."

Peter closed his eyes, and sat, leaning his back against the wall. "I've always wanted to be a hero. I've always wanted to run in, sword in hand, and save the day. I've always wanted to be able to do something like that, I've always wanted to be the fighter." He scratched his head, hoping that Rainbow Dash would cut him some slack. "But it's always been in fantasy. Never reality. I enjoy a fantasy where I'm the hero, but I'm not ready to accept a reality like that. A life like that. A life where I have to work to save the day, a life where I can't just run in and stop stuff from crumbling down around me. I want to save Equestria, I do...But I just don't want to...To leave my comfort zone, of being...Comfortable. I want to stay a person, someone who blends into the background, not somebody who saves the day. Yeah, I saved Rarity, but that was a...A special situation, in which I wasn't really in control, in which adrenaline took over. And I want to save Equestria...I just don't want to have to do the work involved."

"You've already lived as just a person," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "This is a new life. Make it different, don't model it on your old life. And you have to do the work, Peter. We all do."

"But why?" Peter spat back, staring her right in the face. "I've already done work, I've already done a shitload of work! I've studied, I've done laps for swimming, I've practiced my golf stroke, I've already done work! I've been torn from Earth and put here, so why should I keep working hard? Why shouldn't I just kick back and relax, because my life is basically over!"

"Because your life is over," Rainbow Dash sternly responded. "And because you've been given a chance to make something new, and interesting, and fun out of your new life. With me. And everypony in this train, you bucking dumbass. And because I need you, I need you to be the father of our filly, and it needs you to be its father as well."

The last bit struck a chord with Peter, and he sighed, feeling the anger and confusion slowly ebbing away. "I...I know," he responded after several long minutes, now looking right into her eyes. "And I'm sorry. I'm just not used to thinking for other people, or even about others..."

Rainbow Dash nodded, and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Peter, neither am I. And I know, it's a big responsibility to just up and save the world. And it's even harder to let go of something. But I'll be with you the entire way."

Smiling, Peter hugged her with a deep breath of guilt. "I'm sorry," he muttered softly. "For being such a dick. I really am. Do you forgive me for what I said?"

"Buck no," she responded with a small snort of laughter. "But maybe you can make it up to me..." Peter smiled to himself, and asked, "Okay...How would I make it up to you?" Pulling herself back to look him in the eye with a flirtatious look, she whispered, "By making me feel good."

Peter smiled wide, and declared "I'm on it!" He immediately stood, and started looking around for his iPod, and for the videos of cats doing funny...things, on it.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Rainbow Dash asked as he lifted the mattress, genuinely confused as she stood there, a desire for make-up sex shot down.

"Looking for my iPod," Peter muttered, not taking any attention away from his search.

"Okay, here's a crazy question...Why?" She shot back.

"So I can make you laugh," he responded, matter-of-factly. "I mean, I wanna make you happy."

Rainbow Dash blinked, and, with a sigh, pressed her hoof against her forehead. "You're a bucking dumbass, you know that?" Peter turned, surprised. "What? Why?"

Putting on a face that said "are-you-fucking-kidding-me?", Rainbow Dash leaped onto the bed with a single motion, and motioned, without any ceremony or flirting, towards her genitals.

"Oh," he stated, blankly. He blinked a few times, and it finally registered. "Oooohhhhhhhhh," he let out in one long breath, finally understanding the motion.

"Really?" She mocked him, falling back onto the bed as he climbed in next to her.

"Shut up," he muttered, blushing at his own complete failure.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and, well...the rest is history.

Hey, sorry. I say sorry because I kind of rushed the end there, because I really want to get to the next chapter and OUT OF THIS FUCKING TRAIN!!
Next chapter has Atonal. Ta-fucking-da.