Bruised Apples, Lightning Storms

Some Welcome Changes

A/N: Alright, I've fixed, deleted, and polished every chapter deemed unworthy before this point. Though I would strongly recommend going back and flicking through the new versions of chapters 1-7, it is certainly not vital to understanding what's going on later. Also, new title, cover, and description! I know precisely what I want for the story, thankfully something much less dark than I'd originally envisioned.

Okay, enough with my previous errors. Onto the story! -Sam

The first few hours with my new housemate flew. I had given her a full tour of the farmlands, making sure she knew everything important, such as building locations and weather precautions.

It soon became obvious that this was a whole new world for her: Each new thing made her smile grow and eyes sparkle, only brightening when listening to my descriptions of the items.

She would constantly interrupt my careful lectures on useful information just to point animatedly at random things like insects, barbed wire, or animals. Except...I wasn't bothered by it. In fact, I found myself anticipating the next inevitable outburst. Something was satisfying about observing Rainbow's excitement. There had admittedly been a few, scratch that, several instances of her waving a hoof in my face, waking me from a trance.

Though I couldn't explain why, I felt embarrassed each time she caught me smiling at her. It made no sense; I simply enjoyed how something as insignificant as a butterfly made her happy-and the way she looked to me for an explanation. There was nothing wrong with that, and it didn't seem to bother Rainbow, so why did it bother me?

By the time we were done traveling the vast area, it was later in the afternoon: Way too late for lunch, almost time for dinner. My stomach growled unhelpfully as we walked down the dirt road, back towards the barn house.

I sigh, frustrated with our poor scheduling. "S' a damn shame we didn't stop to eat sooner."

Rainbow hummed in agreement. "I might have said something if I wasn't so distracted..."

"Yeah, that spider really ruffled your feathers." I smirked.

"Seriously AJ, how do they have that many legs?! If I had eight legs, I couldn't walk the way they do. In fact, I wouldn't even stand, I'd just fall to the ground and die. Imagine it."

She didn't make it difficult, pretending to unbalance on four extra nonexistent legs and plopping onto the road.

I chuckled. "You followed that poor thing around for twenty minutes before gettin' distracted again."

"Yeah, okay, but in my defense...it had fangs. Like a vampire. I was following the creature to find it's evil lair! And I eventually intimidated it enough to make it leave, consequently saving us all in the process, so don't blame me for taking time out to save Equestria."

She nodded, content with this extravagant narrative.

Snorting in disbelief, I extended a hoof to pull Rainbow back to her hooves. "Whatever you say, Colors."

Continuing our walk in momentary quiet, I looked back up to the clouds, passing the time in blissful companionship.

"...hey AJ?" Rainbow spoke, voice small.

"What is it?" I replied, concern underlying my words.

"I just wanted to thank you."

Thank god, she was just being sweet again. I let out a relieved sigh.

"For what?"

"Uh, I was thinking about that nice tour you gave me. And how I kept interrupting it."