Of Rainbows and Men Chapter Two

DISCLAIMER OF DOOM!!!: I do not own Rainbow Dash, Hasbro does. Also This story does not reflect my views of Detroit, the school system, and anything else in this fic.

Now enjoy


Of Rainbows and Men
Chapter 2
First day

"The H.M.S Lightning doesn't allow stowaways."


"Hey son." My father said lovingly, as he ruffled my hair, drawing a giggle from me.

He wore his normal business suit, and looked like he was tired. But seeing me, and Mom, seemed to make him feel refreshed.

"Hey sweetie, how was work?" My mother asked, as she gave him a hug.

He gave her a weary smile, then replied, "It was tiring, but better now, thanks to you." He then picked me up, (I wasn't very big, seeing as I was only five years old.) "And Zach here."

I giggled once more, and hugged him.

For a second there, I was in bliss. It seemed like everything was going to be alright.

Then a gunshot sounded, and a bullet tore through my father's chest. This caused him to drop me, go to his knees, then fall face-first in front of me. I froze and my mother screamed as another gunshot echoed.

~~~~~~~~

I shot awake, sweat dripping from my chin. My pupils were pinpricks and my entire body shook uncontrollably.

It was just a dream.

But then why did it feel so real? It doesn't matter, it always feels real. No matter how many sleepless nights I have, it will never change.

My parents, the two kindest, and most loving, people I ever knew, were dead. Nothing was going to change that. I should accept that, I wanted to accept that, but I just couldn't.

They were such good people, why did they have to die? It made no sense to me.

Something stirred in my chair. I jumped in surprise, then it hit me.

Last night wasn't a dream. I had a multi-colored winged pony, named Rainbow Dash, living with me now.

I sat there in the dark, staring at her small body rise, and fall, with each breath. She looked troubled. I don't blame her. To suddenly be in a whole new world, you didn't understand, unexpectedly like that, must have taken some sort of toll on her.

Suddenly I felt the urge to draw. I couldn't use the desk though, due to the fact, Dash was sleeping in my chair. Fortunately, I kept a sketch pad and a small lamp by my bed, should I feel too tired to actually go to my desk.

I bent down, and retrieved the two items from underneath my bed. I turned on the small lamp, earning a soft glow from the object. I then turned to a blank page and retrieved the pencil from the little slot on the back.

I stared at the sleeping creature before me, and began. I took in every one of her features and put them to the page. I went into full blown artist mode, as my writing utensil expertly glided across the page, refining the curves into her facial features, curving the lines into the arch that was her back was while she slept in a ball. The way her hair was slightly messy in an intentional way. How her ears were long, but just the right size for her head.

How the colors in her mane seemed to fade to different colors, when you followed her mane towards the back. It reminded me of one of those cheap mood rings that never actually get your mood right. How she had her fore hooves crossed under her chin, like a pillow. Her lower body was hidden behind the rest of her, but I imagine she wouldn't look half as cute from that angle, than from this one.

Did I just say "cute"? I don't think I did. That doesn't matter, what does matter is this drawing.

I began shading in the colors of her mane, and fur, using grey scale. Still, it looked pretty good.

By the time I finished, I felt pretty tired. I always did, after a late night drawing session.

I shut off the lamp, stuffed my drawing supplies under my bed, and returned to sleep.

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*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEE-CRASH!!*

What you just heard, was the sound of two living things showing their hatred for the same object. More specifically, me and Rainbow simultaneously throwing something at the alarm clock. Fortunately the alarm clock is made of steel and was merely unplugged, not destroyed. We both groaned in a "time to wake up already?" way. Well that's the groan that escaped my lips, don't know about her.

I slowly sat up and rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes.

"Ugh, I hate alarm clocks." I heard the mare say. Too groggy to care about what this statement just implied, I just nodded in agreement.

"They need to find a better way to wake people up, even in the early hours of the morning." I replied, sleepily. She just sat there with a weary look on her face.

I decided not to question it; it was too damned early to delve into someone else's problems.

"I'm going to take a shower, be back." I told her while throwing my towel, and a change of clothes, over my shoulder. She just grunted in acknowledgement. I looked over at her, to spy her looking out the window with tired magenta eyes. I then left her to take my shower.

----------------

I emerged from the bathroom around twenty minutes later, with a fresh set of clothes on. I wasn't going to change in front of her, so I did it in the bathroom.

I then entered my bedroom to find Dash once again asleep, only this time under a blanket. It was kinda chilly, so I didn't blame her for using it. I picked up my bag and left for school.

As I descended the stairs I noticed the fresh bottles on the table, which probably meant my mom was home. She must have been in her room, because I got to the front door without an encounter. Not that I'd WANT you to meet her.

As I locked the front door behind me, and began my walk, I suddenly had a thought.

Rainbow Dash seemed pretty docile when I left her. Based off our first meeting, she isn't one to trust easily. I hope she doesn't get herself into trouble.

Wait. Why do I even care? She is a strange creature I had never seen before, why do I feel like I have to protect her? I don't know, but my gut tells me to do it, so it must be a good idea.

Also my eyes tell me that I have arrived at school.

I entered the graffiti covered front gate, and began heading towards my locker.

My walk was pretty uneventful, aside from the occasional "sup" from one of my gang members, nothing happened.

My locker was located in the deepest, darkest, corner of the school. So the closer I got to it, the less people I would see, until there was no one at all. On the bright side, at least it was a place where I could get some privacy.

I set my bag down, and unzipped it so I could put my books in it. But what I saw inside made me jump in surprise.

Right there, sitting inside my bag, was little ol' Rainbow Dash smiling at me triumphantly.

"Looks like I have a stowaway." I growled, as my surprise turned to anger. She climbed out of the bag, began flapping her wings and floating up to eye-level with an "I don't care" look on her face.

"Look, I don't trust you. But there was no way I was going to say holed up in that room all day." She flicked her tail on the locker as she said that.

I grabbed her, opened the locker, and shoved her in it practically yelling, "What, are you crazy!?!? Don't you remember what I said about getting seen?!?"

She gave me this defiant look, which just infuriated me more.

"I don't care. Why do you?" I froze at the question. There it was again, the doubt of my intentions. Why did I care? I barely knew her, yet I felt like I had to protect her.

I shook my head clear and just replied, "Call it my non-existent conscious. Now you have to stay here, in my locker."

She looked me in the eye and said, "If I am locked up in here, I will kick and scream until somepon, erm, ONE finds me and asks you about the pet you brought to school.

Touché, you bastard.

My face got screwed up in frustration, then I just told her angrily, "Fine, stay in my bag. Just don't make any noise, okay?"

She gave me a victorious smile, grabbed my books, and hopped into my bag with a thud.

I heard an "Ow!"

"You okay?"

"Yep."

"Kay, let's go."

-------------

I sat in my seat as my Economics teacher talked to us about how your money loses value over time when left in the bank for too long. Something like that.

The class was set up like your normal classroom, except a little more worse for wear. The teacher was actually pretty entertaining. He always wore this smug look, as if he knew something we didn't. That was probably true.

His name was Mr. Jones, and he was in fact the only good teacher in this school. That I knew of. See? I can be optimistic.

"I'm bored." I heard my backpack whisper.

"So am I, but I'm being quite about it. Maybe you can be quiet about it too." I replied in a hushed tone.

I know what you're thinking; "Why are you bored? I thought he was entertaining?" Well even he gets boring once in a while.

My bag groaned, then shifted a little.

I rolled my eyes, then said, "Still happy you came smart one?"

The backpack thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Well it got you angry, so that's a plus."

At that moment, I glared darkly at the bag and questioned, "Do you wanna die?"

The object laughed lightly, and replied, "No, but you aren't gonna kill me."

"Don't count on it." I growled.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention?"

"SHUT UP!" I shouted.

I froze when I realized what I just did. EVERYONE staring at me in confusion. Mr. Jones, thinking I yelled it at him, did NOT look happy.

--------------

"I blame you." I muttered to my bag, or rather a certain someone in it, as I once again found myself in another unbearable hour with the living incarnate of evil, Ms. Salis.

--------------

I stared at my cheese pizza. Well that's what they called it anyways. I'm pretty sure they just took the ingredients and threw them in the microwave, then put it on a plate. Why do school lunches suck so much?

"I'm hungry!" A certain pony moaned.

I considered starving her, but then my conscious kicked in and told me not to. Especially if not starving her meant feeding her this terrible pizza that tasted like salad.

"Here, eat this." I replied, as I opened the bag and handed her the plate with the pizza on it.

"What's this?" The bag said to the failure.

"Pizza. If you don't want it, then don't eat it."

"I didn't say I didn't want it." Then there was a munching sound, then a sound of surprise.

"Wow! This tastes just like a daisy sandwich from back home!" She cried.

"Quiet!"I hissed at her. Luckily for us no one noticed.

"Opps, sorry."She quickly replied in a smaller tone.

"That's bett-"Wait, did she just say "sorry"? I just sat there my mouth agape, as she munched on my "pizza". When did she get so nice? Maybe food makes her more docile.

There was a moment of silence, then she said, "You're still a jerk."

The scowl returned to my face.

Ahh, there is the disrespect that was missing. I almost thought she was going to befriend me there.

"Yea sure, and you're still a hothead." I replied, with a small scowl. I then rested my head on the table, while I stared at my backpack. The bag then snickered a little, which drew a small smile from me.

After a minute of awkward silence, the bell rung, announcing that lunch was over. I grabbed the bag, earning a surprised sound from the one within, which drew a small grin from me, as I walked to my fifth period.

History. My most hated subject.

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Let's just skip the details of how I once again ended up in detention with good ol' Ms. Salis.

I just want to say, lecturing your teacher on how boring and stupid history is, is a terrible idea.

Now let's fast forward time here, let's see.... No, I don't want to show you what happened in Mr.Barcelona's....

There I was in Mr. Barcelona's Chemistry class of doom.

Wait! I said, I DIDN'T want to show you this! Crap, seems my remote is broken. Ugh, please skip this part; you really don't want to see me embarrassing myself do you?

...............

...........

You really want to see this don't you?

Fuck. I'll take that as a yes.

Ugh, let's get this over with.

"Mr. Summers! Would you mind giving us your presentation on the three forms of water?" The mad scientist said loudly.

I didn't have anything, but I lost a bet with Rainbow Dash during passing period, so I had to make one up as I go.

I groaned, then got up. I could feel everyone's eyes on me; I never did my projects so this had to be good right?

I stood before the class, with a small look of uncertainty. Okay just make it up. With that thought, I began.

"Okay so as you notice, I have no power point." Snickers rose from my audience.

"So I have decided to just talk about it."

I picked up a marker, and drew a circle, on the board.

"So this is water. We all drink it, so that makes it pretty awesome, and cool." I drew a pair of sunglasses on the circle. "So cool, that it can even change forms. Like into a block." I drew a square around the circle. "This block it can become, is known as 'ice'. But it is so much more than just ice; it is a very effective weapon." I drew a gun around the block, and labeled it "Ice gun" and I drew Mr. Barcelona being blasted with it. Everyone chuckled at that. Everyone except the teacher.

"Also it can become gas." I made some squiggly lines. "But be careful, it can drown you in this state, making it a potent chemical weapon." Laughter filled the room, as I drew an evil face on the drawing with a pitchfork, as it choked little stick figures.

"So really there aren't only three forms, more like six. And yes, they are all very deadly. So watch out, or you will be next on its kill list." I gave a fake "OooOoo" scary sound, as the classroom howled with laughter. I swear I heard Dash's voice among the noise, fortunately no one noticed. I glanced at Mr. Barcelona, who wore a scowl and was pointing toward the door.

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"Hello again, Mr.Summers...." Said a certain devil's servant when I entered detention for the fourth time today.

"Ugh." Was my only reply.

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A horrifying hour, and an uneventful walk later...

"That was fun!!" Cried Rainbow, as she did a loop out of my bag, and landed on my bed.

"Yea sure it was... For you." I told her bluntly.

Yes it was indeed an enjoyable day for her, and a shitty one for me.

She cocked her head, with a curious look on her face.

"Something wrong?"

I gave her a blunt look, "What do you think? Why do you care anyways, I thought I was the bad guy."

She sighed heavily. "Look, you put up with me, AND gave me a safe place to stay, even AFTER how I treated you. That takes some real loyalty. Also, I know I've been kinda a jerk lately, and I'm sorry. Do ya forgive me?" She gave me an apologetic look.

I just stood there, looking like Bigfoot showed up, as I tried to process what she just told me.

"S-So is this a truce?" I stammered out. With the curve ball she just threw me, I was lucky to be able to say anything at all.

"Truce." She stood there with a smile.

I did the one thing I could think of.

"YES!! ONE PROBLEM DOWN!!!" I yelled, as I pumped my fist.

She laughed at the sight of me doing a victory dance in the middle of my bedroom.

-----------

A couple of hours later, I had calmed down and was ordering pizza. I was getting cheese pizza, and Rainbow decided to try the veggie pizza. Which kinda made sense, because horses don't eat meat right?

"Okay," I said, as I put down the phone, "So it should be about thirty minutes, what should we do until then?"

"Pillow fight?" She suggested, shrugging as she did.

"Nah, only got one pillow. How about we tell each other about ourselves?" She perked up at that. I guess she likes to talk about herself.

"Since I'm at least twenty percent cooler than you, I'll start." I gave her a "really?" look. She just gave a smug smile in return.

------------

"...then I saved my best friend, my personal heroes, and won the competition!" She finished with a triumphant pose, where she jutted her chest out.

"Pretty awesome Rainbow." Was all I said, which she seemed to count as a victory.

A loud knocking sounded from the door, and I slowly got up, and walked over to the window to see who it was.

My eyes widened in surprise.

It was her. Kate Wake.

"I'M COMING!!" I yelled as I tore out of the room, clutching the money tightly in my hand. I arrived at the door, and grasped the door handle, turned and pulled. Which resulted in it barely moving.

FUCK!! Not now!!!

"One second!" I shouted.

I began tugging and pulling on the door, even pushing off from one of the side walls, with a foot, as I did. I gave it one more big pull, and it came free, however the force of me pulling sent me to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked, concern evident in her voice.

The air had been knocked out of me, I felt slightly dizzy, and my crush was standing over me asking me if I was okay. I'm okay. I groaned a bit, and slowly got up.

"I'm okay... Just a little worse for wear." I replied, then gave her a small smile.

She returned the smile.

"So how are you today, Kate?" I arched an eyebrow, as the pain faded. I don't know if it was the fall, or RD's stories of bravery and courage, but I felt more confident at the moment. Not like that is a bad thing.

"I'm good. You?"

Alright! This is going so much better than last time!

"Umm, good, good." That's the biggest damn lie I've ever heard, but right now that doesn't matter.

"That's good.... So the pizza will be eight-fifty."

I handed her a ten, the told her, "Umm... Thanks for the pizza. See you later." I gave her an awkward smile, the kind that says, "I like you, but I don't have the guts to tell you."

"Yea, bye. See you later." I don't know if she looked disappointed, or just tired. I was too busy kicking myself for not asking her out.

I entered my room to find Dash laughing her tail off.

"What's so funny?" I asked in an irritated tone.

"You totally like her; you should've seen the look on your face! It was all like, "And she made some silly expression. The funny part was, she was probably accurate.

I gave her my "really?" expression, then told her, "Shut up, and eat your pizza."

The rest of the night, we traded stories over pizza. Well actually I didn't have too many stories to tell, but she had enough for the both of us. Telling the stories made her a bit more joyful, but something was off. I didn't want to ruin the fun, so I didn't question her about it. But she DID have a question to that I definitely didn't want to answer.

"So Zach, what are parents like here?"

I repressed a sad expression, and gave out a fake "thinking" one instead.

How should I know? I don't want to tell her about a certain event, but at the same time, she seemed pretty curious.

"They are kind.....and....... Loving." I gave her a strained smile. She wasn't buying it. Luckily, she didn't question further, she just nodded her head slowly. After that, we just sat there in awkward silence.

I stared and at her, and she at me.

"Whelp, bed time!" I said loudly, getting up quickly and breaking the awkward silence.

"Yep!" She replied in agreement, and hopped up on my chair.

I walked over to the lamp, and switched it off.

"Zach?" I paused.

" Yeah?"

"You're still a weirdo."

"Just go to sleep."

(Author's note : Thanks for reading!!  I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to rate and comment!! Also if you faved this, would you mind liking this too? It is okay if you don't, it is your choice. Also have an amazing day!!
P.s thanks to DJ Blitz for editing this fic!!)