Bruised Apples, Lightning Storms

A New Girl

The few dishes we had used for breakfast barely needed washing with Rainbow's insistence of licking the plates clean, but a part of me was still cringing at the obvious lack of care I'd taken into the household chores over all this time. These plates were just the tip of the iceberg on the pile mounting steadily in the sink, but I could do the others later; My penance wasn't on a time limit.

The boredom was overtaking, and I remembered why I hadn't done that s in such a long time.

What little amount of space in my brain that wasn't on work was usually occupied with some song, nulling out the monotony of farm life. Something dark with a strong backbeat.

But, for the first time, the bug was gone. It left a hole, and the meaningless void pulled me back into reality. In those empty, flattened minutes, I noticed things I had neglected for years: The way the wind blew cold through the cracks in the walls, how I was shivering without even realizing it.

Finishing up the last pieces of cutlery, my eyes drifted sideways to the mare at the table. She sat, mellowed, maybe in the quiet of dawn, the sparseness of the surroundings. Her gaze traveled, slower than molasses, around the dank room, soaking in every detail with those pearly eyes.

After setting the last plate aside, I approached Rainbow. Resting a hoof on the table as to return her to actuality, her seemingly purblind vision resurfaced. She flashed me a lopsided grin and hopped out of her chair, eager to engage in conversation, by hook-or-crook completely ignoring my disinterested demeanor. I almost chuckled, biting the inside of my cheek to restrain it.

"Alright Sugar, now that we've eaten n' all that, we need to have a discussion. You need t' determine how long you're planning on staying.

I already knew her answer: She was a pegasus. No doubt she'd be head-over-hooves at the mere mention of flying back up to Cloudsdale where it belonged.

"...I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" She stammered,"I mean I shouldn't have overstayed my welcome. You're wondering when I'm going to leave. I've already invaded on your hospitality. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay so long. A-and thank you for the food-"

She shot a hoof to her mouth in abject horror."I acted so childishly over the food...a-a-and the dishes! I didn't even help clean the-oh god, oh god, I'm sorry. I'll get out as soon as possi-"

"Rainbow, what the actual hell are you talking about?"

I cut her off, confused. She was pleading like she burned the house down and I was gonna smack her.

"Why are you actin' all apologetic? You didn't do anything." I couldn't think of a reason she'd be so adamant about her wrongdoing.

"I'm letting you waste time on me." She stated.

That was illogical, we'd spent less than an hour in each other's company, and I told her as much.

"Well yeah, but...", Rainbow hesitated,"...how much more time are you going to spend on me?"

"Whatever. You're your own pony, and you're welcome to leave if you want, but I don't mind harboring a fugitive."

"W-what? Who said anything about a fugitive? Nope! Not this pegasus!"

I smirked at her, disregarding the obvious lie. "Mmhm. I'm just sayin, if there happened to be a pony against the law, I wouldn't have a problem with them. Not exactly the first time I'd have been to prison, if I were to get caught."

I bragged nonchalantly, thinking of the inevitable look on her pale face, maybe even panic, when she realized I wasn't necessarily lawful.

"Really?! How long were you there?" She yipped, catching me off guard. Her eyes glowed, and she waited eagerly for my response. This girl must be pretty gullible, even if I'd been telling truths thus far.

I thought back to my worse days. "Sentenced a year, got out after five months."

She looked at me in awe.

"Did you break out? Change your name and move to a new town?"

Really laughing now at the conviction in her words, I shook my head.

"Now Sugar, I don't want you running with the idea I'm loads cooler than I am."

"But you are cool! And you didn't answer me about the-"

"I'm not, honest. And I didn't answer your question for a reason. Mind you, I ain't exactly interested in sharin' my life story with a complete stranger. What's your name, Miss Rainbow?"

She cocked her head to the side, ears flopping. Must've been a habit. A cute one, too.

"You just said it? I just assumed I'd told you and forgot about it. I'm kind of having trouble with remembering some stuff lately."

How was I supposed to feel about that: Amused? Guilty? A little bad her parents couldn't think of anything cleverer than that? I quickly recovered from my mistake

"Yeah, you did. I meant your full name." I said simply, adding an eye roll to aid the lie.

"Oh, okay. I'm Rainbow Dash. You probably said your name earlier too, but I can't rememb-well, you know."

Well, shit. When Dash was being nice, it made me feel bad about the lies that would roll easily off my tongue.

Dash...it was a cool name and all for a pegasus, but it didn't suit her.

"I'm AJ. It's a pleasure."

I reached up to tip my hat, only to realize it wasn't there. Looking around, I found it hanging on the nail beside the door, like always, and walk over to retrieve it, grabbing it and securing it atop my messy frock. Before walking back to Rainbow, however, I stop short as my focus landed on the door.

The reason I forgot about work was a mystery to me, but I must have been at least an hour behind schedule at this point. But I didn't really want to say goodbye to Dash...

"Hey Rainbow, do you mind if we walk n' talk? I got some work around the farm I have to do."

Her face reflected puzzlement for a millisecond before peeking back up, following my lead and smiling broadly, taking a stand next to me.

"Alright, sounds awesome!"

Though neither of us admitted it, I think we both were glad of some company, no matter what else we were doing in the meantime.

"You don't even know what I do for a livin'."

"But we get to talk more, and I already know that's cool."

I smiled at Rainbow, opening the door and stepping out into the warming eight o' clock morn, stretching, then continuing on, towards the South-most section, for today's harvest.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for stickin' with me for a little while. Neither of us think it's really a long-term thing, probably, but it's nice to have another pony to talk to, ya know?"

I expected a reaction of some sort: Laughter, a polite refusal to stay long, a stuttery, blushy apology, but heard nothing except my own hoof steps in the dying summer grass.

In fact, I'd never heard her's to begin with. I turned to look back for my companion.

"Rainbow...?" I questioned.

She couldn't hear me: We were thirty feet apart, her figure centered in the door frame, staring at the world around her.