Of Rainbows and Men Chapter one

DISCLAIMER!! READ IT!!: I don't own Rainbow Dash, Hasbro does. I wish I did, but I don't. Also this story doesn't reflect my views of Detroit, the school system, or anything else in this story.

Now that's over with, enjoy.

Of Rainbows and Men
Chapter one: The day my life was turned upside down.

"In life, nothing is certain."

Hi I'm Zach, Zach Summers. I'm no one special; in fact I am just a failure. Or at least that's what everybody says I am. My parents died when I was a kid. Ever since then, my whole life has just become one straight drop down a bottomless trench.

By the time I got into high school; I was a mess, I had gotten into gangs, and my grades were terrible. I possessed no friends, no real friends, if you want to call the fellow scumbags in my gang "friends" then be my guest. I live in some god forsaken slums in the middle of Detroit.  

The school I go to, is pretty terrible, Kennedy High School. The school didn't give a damn about what the students did, as long as they got the grades. Bullies ran rampant, and you could just as easily get shot at school as anywhere else in this shitty town. Luckily I was a part of a gang so I got "protection" from bullies. Protection as in the guy will be shot the next day. What about me? I haven't ever shot anyone, and hopefully I don't ever have to.  

Death is an everyday occurrence in my life. When something bad happens regularly like that, people tend to stop caring and just ignore it. They become desensitized to it. My house was only a block away from the school in the war-zone that was my neighborhood. The "home" I lived in, was about as homely as a shack. Actually, I'd take a shack over that dump any day of the week.

Well that was my life, and it seemed to only get worse. Then, one day, the strangest thing I had ever experienced happened...

        ------------------

"MR. SUMMERS!!!"

I shot awake, and nearly fell out of my chair, drawing laughter from my classmates.  

Welcome to my chemistry class, boys and girls. Looks like the designer made it to match the teacher's personality. The class was clean, with glossy black counters serving as desks. Tall chairs were positioned behind them, with students sitting in them.  

I was the one with short, spiked, brown hair. I had on a white shirt that had the picture from some hip hop artist's album on it, and was wearing black South Pole shorts with a pocket chain. I had on medium length white socks, and a pair of black Lugz. I had around my head a bandana with a picture of a viper on it, representing my gang, The Vipers.  

Now you might wonder, what is a poor kid is doing with nice clothes? Well being in a gang has its benefits. Like money. I was about five foot eight in height, and was about average weight. I was fairly muscular, but it wasn't very visible. I was white, which is pretty ironic, considering that almost everyone in the school was either Black or Mexican.  

Back to the classroom. The walls used to be white, and posters lined them. They all had terrible puns about how fun learning can be. I don't get why they make them in the first place, no one pays any attention to them. The floor was tiled, slightly cracked, and a bland beige.  

The teacher was your typical evil mad scientist. His name being, Mr. Barcelona, he enjoyed embarrassing students, and making our lives hell. His labs always involved something that could possibly blow up the whole school. I swear his getting a job as a teacher is the eighth wonder of the world.  He was a middle aged man, with grayish-black hair, that was messy. He wore a white lab coat complete with a dress shirt and tie underneath. He looks so much like a mad scientist; it even makes me wonder if there is some sort of conspiracy, because no one believes me when I say he is one.  

"Mr. Summers would you mind telling us the chemical composition of oil?" His voice was laced with the evil of his intentions.

"Umm..." My mind was blanking, I WAS having an amazing dream about flying through the clouds above a beautiful landscape, but now I was back in cruel reality. Come on think! I never really paid any attention in my chemistry class. Then again, I never paid attention in ANY of my classes.

"Carbon? And... Oxygen?" The air filled with laughter, and the teacher had an amused, yet aggravated look. I would have been embarrassed, if I wasn't still groggy from my nap.  

"Mr. Summers, did you have a long night of studying? Or did you rot what's left of your brain with wasteful video games?"

It was rhetorical question, but I wasn't really thinking straight, so I did a very dumb thing.  

"I was busy trying to figure out what type of mental sickness you have." I retorted, "How do you spell, crazyfuckingteacheritis?" I gave him a mockingly inquiring look. The room fell silent, as everyone stared at me with wide-eyed expressions. The realization hit me, along with the withering glare Mr. Barcelona was giving me. I tried my best to keep my composure, but his angry look was terrifying.

The class burst out laughing. The teacher kept his stare. I just committed suicide; NO ONE ever talks to him like that. I guess they were giving me a warm goodbye.

"Mr. Summers..." He growled, "You just earned yourself two hours detention. Maybe you can think about your actions there." The room silenced itself when he spoke.

I just stood up with my backpack, and quietly walked out of the tenth circle of hell.  

The school was divided up into in multiple buildings. Four were for classrooms, and one was for administration. They had the student ones on two sides in rows, with the admin building at the end of the two rows, in the middle, it made it look more intimidating that way. The cafeteria was in the middle, to cut down on traffic to it I guess.

Everything was so bland. The school's attempts to make things more vibrant, wasn't working. It doesn't help when you have lockers lining the walls of the halls, and the walls look like crap. Most of the lockers were damaged too.  

Hey look we're here. I guess that boring talk about my horrible school took longer than I thought.

I casually walked into detention. The teacher that ran it, was a middle aged woman with blonde hair, and a red dress. To be honest she was pretty hot. Unfortunately she was both older than me, and hated me. She even went through the trouble to make a sign that read, "Reserved for Zach Summers" on a desk farthest from the door. This was to mock the fact that I was constantly in there. Her name was Ms. Salis. Charming right?

"Hello again Zach. Right on schedule I see." Her lips curled into a cruel smile. Why is it always the good looking ones that are evil?

"You know me," I replied with a groan, "I aim to please."  

The room was devoid of students, so that left me to be able to fully take in her hate. The room was like your normal classroom. Except that the room seemed darker. But I'm pretty sure that's just me.

The next hour was excruciating. She stared at me with cold green eyes. It was freaking creepy. It was like she was studying me, like I was her prey. I couldn't sleep and the clock thought it would be hilarious to slow down.  

Sweat started to soak into my bandana, as I stared at the time device like my life depended on it. I just couldn't stand to think about her eyes locked on to me. Yet I still did. The minute hand moved an inch. The second hand seemed to taunt me with its speed. It swear it went around twice before the minute hand even THOUGHT about moving.  

This is going to be a very long hour.

            --------------

I burst through the door of detention, a huge look of relief, and joy, plastered all over my face. The air never felt more refreshing. Sweet freedom! One more second in there and I would have killed myself.

"Ey, Zach!!" I turned to the source of the voice, to see a tall muscular Mexican guy, with a white tank top, and baggy black pants. He wore similar shoes to mine, and had a bandana with a viper on it. He wore the same look I did. A barely noticeable smirk.

"Hey Eddie!! What's up?" When we reached each other, we did our usual handshake, sliding our hands and fist bumping.  

"Nothin' much guero. Hey you wanna hang out man?"

I shook my head, "Nah man, I got to watch the house today." I replied, which was partially true. The truth was, I was tired. I needed to get some sleep. But I knew he wouldn't take that excuse.  

"That sucks guero. Okay see ya tomorrow, stay cool man." He wasn't one to just stick around and talk without the rest of our crew. We did our usual handshake, and I began my walk home.  

The school was butt ugly on the outside. I swear who ever designed this place, must have been high off his ass. It looked like it was an old rusted prison instead of a school. It probably was a prison at some point.  

Our neighborhood was pretty, no very, rundown. The houses looked more like shacks, and barely held together. All the windows were boarded, barred, or dirty. Very few actually worked.

Luckily, I was one of the fortunate few that got a functional working window. That made my house easy to spot. Just look for the two story shithole, with the only functional window on the second floor. The walls were worn down, and the door had bars on it. The building wasn't exactly in one piece.

Speak of the devil, there it is.

I walked up to the door, grasped the door knob and turned. I then pushed on the piece of crap door for it to move a centimeter then not budge.  

Again? Really?

I pushed harder, and it refused to move.  

Fine you retarded door, you wanna play that way?

I backed up then the kicked the door as hard as I could, and it relented. An inch.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Time to end it.

I charged the door and slammed into it with my shoulder. It swung open, and I was greeted by the smell of cigarette smoke. I coughed slightly, then entered, rubbing the throbbing pain in my shoulder from smashing into a metal barred door. Not the best of my ideas.

"Mom?" I called out. The house reeked of cigarette smoke again, that usually meant she is, or was, home. I'll go with the latter, mostly because I would have gotten a response by now. I walked in and shut the door behind me.  

Welcome to my "house". Between the wallpaper peeling off the walls, and the stink of cigarettes, I question who actually thought this would be a good place to raise me.  

Or anyone.  

It was like we picked it up at the city dump, and then called it home. The hilarious part is that is what basically happened. The city was going to tear this place down, then we moved in. So yea, this place is literally a dump.

To start, we have the living room, more like the dying room. It consist of an in-more-than-one-piece couch, and a crappy T.V. Oh, and the million cigarette butts and empty bottles of alcohol on the lopsided table and semi-couch. Now we have two choices, stairs on the right that lead to the bathroom, and bedrooms, or the kitchen to the left. How about we start with the kitchen, and not brave the messed up, creaky, stairs just yet.

Well first off, I wouldn't call it a kitchen. It's more like a barely intact room that happens to have food in it once on a while. Since I have my own source of income, I usually get take out. At least we have a fridge that works, because that's where I keep the leftovers to heat in our microwave. Isn't that Ironic? We don't have an oven, and we have a sink that kind of works, yet we have a microwave. I don't get it either, so don't ask. The tiles that make up-actually there aren't really any tiles left on the floor.  

After deciding if I wanted to have leftovers, or just order pizza, I ventured up the stairs, each step extracting a creak from the boards.  The phone was in my room, but I needed to use the bathroom first.  

The bathroom was well, believe it or not the most intact part of our "house". Yea sure around half the tiles are missing, and the walls look like shit, but the shower and toilet actually WORK. The mirror is pretty dirty, but it still does the job. Let's not forget the cliched, "single light bulb hanging from a wire".

Well after I finished my business, I left the bathroom and headed for my bedroom. Now my bedroom is the second most intact room, due to the fact I live in it, and I would prefer to not have it collapse on me while I sleep.  

I opened the door to my room and walked in, tossing my bag to the side. I then walked over to my purple colored mattress and hopped on it, swiping the phone up as I did. Dialing the neighborhood pizza place, I laid my head down on my beige pillow.

My room looked very nice. But it was a deception. Sure I painted the walls white, but I didn't actually fix them. I have a double sided, green and yellow blanket, and clothes all over the place. I also own a desk; it's actually the nicest thing in the whole god damned neighborhood. It comes complete with a chair.  

What do I do at the desk? Well not homework obviously. Who does that? No, I do something far better.  

Draw.  

I don't really draw about anything in particular, just things I experience and see. Things that pique my interest. Think of it as a personal journal of sorts. Except the book is the desk, and the entries, the pages I fill with drawings. I never let anyone see them. They are a representation of my own personal thoughts and feelings. Not anyone's business.  

Besides, as far as anyone knows, I'm too tough to do something like that, if any of my fellow crew members found out about it... I would be finished. I may be a guy with no future, but at least I'm a guy with no future who can draw. A single lamp provided the light for my room, the same goes for every other room in this god forsaken house.  

I have shelves with various things I like to collect, but that isn't important.

"Okay, bye"

I hung up the phone. As usual I had to spend the first hour trying to convince the guy who answered to just shut up and take my order. But at the end, I finally was able to order a pepperoni pizza, with a bottle of Dr.Pepper.  

             -----------------
A loud knocking at the door woke me from my nap. I jerked awake, and groaned.  

Must be the pizza guy.

"COMING!!" I yelled, as I slowly rose, and sauntered over to the window. The cool thing about having a functional window, facing the front of your house, is that you can see who is knocking on the door. Like the chick delivering your pizza being a total hottie.  

She had beautiful medium length, hair. She was fairly slender in figure, and wore the company's uniform. The company uniform consisted of a red baseball cap with their logo on it, a white polo, and black pants.

I burst from my bedroom room, and tore down the stairs, cash in my hand. My hair was slightly messy, but I didn't notice. There was a super hot chick on my doorstep, and I couldn't make her wait.  

My breathing was heavy and sweat beaded my forehead, from the burst of action. Yea, definitely from the burst of action and not from the cute girl on the other side of that door.

I calmed my breathing, and slowly opened the door as casually as I could.

I can't screw this up.

"Umm... hi. You the pizza gu- erm, girl?" I said nervously.

Damn it!!! Strike one. Get yourself together Zach!

She laughed a little, closing her wonderful sky-blue eyes.

How in the name of all things sacred, is this girl not taken? How do I know? Well let's just say I have a sense for such things and leave it at that.

"Hi, and yes I am. What's your name?"

Holy shit, did she just ask my name!?!? Okay, play it cool.

"Zach Runners-I mean Summers." I found myself tripping over my speech.

WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!?

"How about yours?" Yes a complete sentence!

She smiled warmly, and handed me my pizza, snapping me out of my trance.

"Kate Wake. Now that will be seven-twenty five." She replied.

I handed her the ten and said, "The change is for you."  

Smooth move, Mr. Cassanova.

She laughed at the attempt, and began walking away.  

"See you another time Zach."

She got in her car and drove off, while I stood there, with an entranced look on my face.  

I think I'm in love.

            -------------------

I sat at my desk, with the window open, drawing what I had just seen three hours ago. She was so beautiful.

I turned my gaze to out my window and sighed. Night had fallen about an hour ago. My supply of pizza had run out about an hour ago.

I just couldn't get her out of my head. A star began to glow brighter. She was so nice too. The dot in the sky grew bigger, but I was too entranced by my new crush to notice.

Suddenly the star was pretty big, big enough for me to notice.

Then straight out of nowhere something slammed into me, throwing me from my chair and onto the floor, with a loud *THUD*. My vision blurred as the air was knocked out of me. I felt something warm on my chest. I painfully turned my head to see the strangest thing I had seen in my life.

It looked like something straight out of a children's show. It was cyan, with wings, and had a rainbow tail, complete with rainbow hair. Its eyes were magenta. I could tell because, it had one eye closed, with a painful expression on its face and rubbing the back of its head. Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, it looked kind of like a horse with wings. That makes a little more sense. Crap I feel shock wearing down enough for panic to set in.

That happened right when we made eye contact.

We both screamed and I punched it square in the nose, and it fell to unconsciousness.  

Holy shit......... I just fucking punched out a rainbow colored winged, horse looking thing in my bedroom!  

My panic doubled, as the fear spread across my face.  

Fuck!Fuck!Fuck! What do I fucking do!?!  I began pacing back and forth, hands gripping my head. I HAVE A KNOCKED OUT ALIEN IN MY FUCKING BEDROOM!!

Crap! What do I fucking do!? Umm play it cool, when it wakes up I'll hope it won't be angry.  

I crept towards it, and poked it. Its eyes shot open, and it kicked out with its rear legs, which connected square with my chest. I went flying across the room, and slammed against the opposite wall.  

My yelp of pain came in the form of, "HOLY FUCK!!" My breathing hurt and sweat beaded my forehead. Did I just get my ass kicked by something one forth my size? Chest condition: I'll live. Pride condition: Pretty bad shape. I think it knocked the shock straight out of me. Nope, still there. It was even more scared of me, seeing that its fear filled face, was the last thing I saw before something smashed into my face.  

              -------------

My eyes slowly opened to find that I was tied to my chair. Also that my new acquaintance was staring me in the face, with a serious look on its face.

I was torn between screaming at the fact I was taken hostage by a rainbow colored horse thing, or crying at the fact that it kicked my ass and it was less than half my size. I decided on a frozen look of confusion and panic.

We stared at each other for a full minute. It must have been in as much shock as I was, seeing as she was in a strange place, with an alien as a hostage.  

Now is the part where we play the waiting game. We stare at each other until one of us cracks. I might win, because its expression slowly began to quiver. The air was so thick with tension, that one could make soup with it.  

Tension soup. Yummy.

I could feel my expression start to shake. A trickle of sweat found its way down the side of my face. Sweat beaded on its forehead as well. We stared into the others soul. I couldn't take it much longer, and by what I could tell. Neither could it. We both broke at the same time.

"What the fuck are you!"

"What the buck are you!"

What the hell? Did it just talk? Assuming that it could talk, and understand me. I chose my next words wisely.

"I asked first, you crazy motherfucker!" Behold my limited wisdom.

She (seeing as she was probably intelligent, and would take offense to being called an "it". Also the fact that she looked like a "she") was taken aback from that reaction. But that didn't stop her from stomping a bit and glaring at me.

"I am the one asking questions, weirdo. Now what are you and where am I?"

I stared at her defiantly. Well as defiantly as I could, seeing as I was still feeling the shock of being taken hostage by an alien in my own bedroom. However based off the look on her face, she wasn't going to have any of it. Which makes her a damned good actor; because I'm willing to bet she still is in shock.

"I'm Zach. I was just in my room minding my own business when a fuckin' rainbow colored winged horse just crashed into ME." I attempted a serious look, but the shock of having a rainbow colored, winged, horse smash into me while I was in my room, was still hanging on to me. She began flapping her wings, and rose up to my eye level still trying to stare into my soul.

"I am a pony! Also it isn't my fault you weren't paying attention!" She snapped.

"Okay rainbow colored winged PONY! There happy!?!?" I retorted.

We both had a second staring match. The tension in the air was unbearable. At first I thought I saw anger in her eyes. But after minute of staring, I saw fear and frustration even panic.  

She was just as confused and afraid as I was. Okay, time to be the rational one. Sure she is a cartoon looking pony, and sure I am scared shitless right now, but there is not going to be any progress without being calm. Besides, she doesn't seem to be the type to stay calm in a situation like this.  

Then it hit me. Here I am, tied to a chair, in an argument with a rainbow colored winged cartoon pony in my bedroom. My eyes widened in realization of the ridiculousness of this whole situation. Then I just burst out laughing uncontrollably. Waves of laughter rolled through my body as her expression changed from anger, to confusion.

"Hey! What's so funny?!?"

I paused for a moment to say, "Oh nothing, I'm just ARGUING WITH A STRANGE CREATURE I NEVER MET BEFORE IN MY OWN BEDROOM WHILE TIED TO A CHAIR!!!!!!" Okay I think I just lost it. A look of realization appeared on her face. I wonder if it was because the situation caught up to her, or due to the crazed look on my face.

She sighed, and rubbed the back of her head. Sensing the moment of weakness I ceased my laughter and seized the opportunity.

"So who, and what, are you?" I asked as calmly as I could, holding back and giggles left in me. At least the shock was starting to wear off. Mostly because freaking out got old.

This took her off guard, so she just stammered back, "W-Well I'm Rainbow D-Dash." She's losing confidence. I guess a name will do.

"Well Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you." I replied. Number one rule when dealing with aliens: be polite.  

Don't pay attention to earlier; I had just forgotten that for a bit. It is harder to remember things when you're in shock.

Hey I may be a fuck up, but my gut instinct says be nice to the pony who has you tied to a chair. "Now will you mind untying me? I don't really like being tied to chairs."

She slowly untied me. Based off her movements, I could tell she didn't trust me. But this momentary truce would have to do. After she finished we both just stared at each other. It felt pretty awkward. There was one question that was nagging at me. Also the shock had pretty much dissipated by then.

What to do with her?

I could just kick her out. No. She would get torn apart out there. I can see it on her eyes, she's never experienced death. Especially on a daily basis, like I do. Also, she is scared. It's pretty obvious. Seeing she is shaking pretty heavily. I sighed.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

"So Rainbow, you wanna stay with me? Seeing as you just landed in a new mysterious world, and you have nowhere to stay." Attention everybody, the ice has been broken! I gave her a nervous smile, and rubbed the back of my head with a hand.  

She looked like she was debating it. But I knew the ultimate answer would be.  

"Okay. But don't try anything funny." She gave the "I'm watching you look."  Her voice was still a bit shaky, and scratchy. Actually I think that's her normal voice.  

I put my hands up defensively. "I won't. Anyways aren't you sore from a fall like that?" I asked. The look on her face confirmed my suspicions.  

"Maybe... Doesn't mean I still can't buck your hide across the room." She growled.

"Point taken. Now whether you like it or not, there are some rules." I replied sternly. Yup shock has definitely resided. She responded by letting out a snort, and crossing her forelegs, with an angry look on her face.

"One: Don't get seen. You were lucky I was the one you ran into. Had it been someone else, you would be in a much worse position right now." She gave a nod that said she understood.

"Two: Stay here. Nobody ever goes into my room, so it will be safe place. I know you'll get bored, but it is better than being dead. Or worse." She rolled her eyes. I don't think she is taking this seriously. But I'm pretty sure survival is a good incentive to listen to me.

"Three: DON'T go through my drawings. They are very personal, and I don't need a rainbow colored horse going through them."

"I'm a pony." She corrected.  

"I don't care if you are a fucking robot, DON'T GO THROUGH MY DRAWINGS."

She drew back at that.  

"Okay, fine. I won't. But what do you expect me to do all day?" She had a point.

"Something, other than leave, or touch my drawings." I said stubbornly.

"Fine. I'll follow your stupid rules. I'm tired anyways. Good night." She was very irritated. There was something else there too, I could tell. But I was in no mood to question her about it. She hopped up on my chair, and curled into a ball.

I let out a yawn. I should probably turn in too. I turned off the light.  Then laid down in the bed and didn't even bother to get undressed or pull the blanket over me. It just felt awkward getting undressed with her in the room.  

I sighed heavily, and stuffed my head in my pillow.

This can't turn out well. Hey maybe if I'm lucky, I will wake up at my desk, and find out this was all a dream.  

Doubt it.

(Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Feel free to rate,comment, and let me know of any grammatical errors and what not. In other words, constructive criticism is welcome. One more thing; HAVE AN AMAZING DAY!  )