Precious to Me

by Rose Quill

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Romance, Slice of Life, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5184

Rainbow learns something about AJ. The trip to apologize for it, however, is a little more demanding.

Everyone has something precious to them. Soon, Applejack and Rainbow Dash will discover just what is important to them.

My entry in the AppleDash contest #5

Continuity: Homecoming

Popular stories: 8-28-17

Published 2017-08-28 08:00:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-28 08:00:06 UTC

What did I do?

“Consarn it, Rainbow!” AJ roared. “Give it back!”

The Pegasus blinked in surprise, her wings going still for a moment, causing her to dip a little in her hover. She took the hat off of her rainbow locks and looked at it.

“What gives, AJ?” she asked. “It’s just a beat-up old hat.” She dropped down and handed it to the farmer, who snatched it from the athlete as though it were her foal, cradling it gently.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she sniffed, running a hoof along the brim. “You think everything is a joke.” She put the hat on her head and turned away, walking stoically away from the town square.

Rainbow settled on the ground, looking confused until the orange pony was lost to sight.

“What was that all about?”

A mug thumped down as the weather pony continued her story.

“It was weird, Shy,” she said, poking at her plate. “I mean, I’ve never seen AJ that mad before. Sure, since we’ve been dating I’ve done a couple of stupid things, but she’s never shouted like that.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy whispered. “Maybe you should apologize, it seems like you really upset her this time.”

“Ya think?” the cyan Pegasus deadpanned. “What do you think set her off?”

“Well, you did take her hat,” the other mare whispered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her without it, outside of special occasions. Maybe it's special to her, Rainbow.”

The polychromatic Pegasus shook her head.

“It’s just something to keep the sun from her eyes,” she muttered. “It’s so beat up and weather stained it can’t be anything special.”

The next day, Rainbow dropped down a short walk from the door to the Apple’s house. She had been invited the other day for an advance taste of this year's cider. She licked her lips as she climbed onto the porch, she could almost taste the fizzy drink.

Apple Bloom opened the door at the knock, and her face fell when she saw the Pegasus standing there.

“Oh,” she said sourly. “It’s you.”

Rainbow blinked, not used to such a frosty expression from the young filly. “Um…”

The filly turned and stepped out of sight, the door swinging shut between her and Rainbow. The mare blinked for a second before the door opened again and Apple Bloom dropped a bottle of cider in front of her cyan hooves.

“Ya done already paid for that,” Apple Bloom said, stepping back and putting her hoof on the door. “Make it last, ‘cause you won’t get any more.”

“What?” Rainbow gaped.

“Big Sis was pretty clear,” the filly said. “If ya hadn’t already paid for that, Ah’d not even have given it to you.”

Rainbow was astounded, but when the shorter pony started stalking out the door, she couldn’t help but step backward at the anger in her eyes.

“You made her cry,” she said. “Cry, Rainbow. Ah ain’t seen her cry since Mom and Dad died. Ah don’t know what you did, but she don’t want to see you right now.”

The filly paced back into the house and slammed the door.

The Pegasus stood there for a couple minutes, just staring at the door.

Just what in the hay did I do this time? she thought as she picked up the bottle.

Applejack watched as Rainbow left. She didn’t cry, she had no more tears to spare today.

“Ya dad-blamed fool,” she whispered as she felt the stiff felt in her hooves as her marefriend took to the air. “What’d you have to go and get so upset for?”

She turned and set her hat on the top of her bedside table, the only item on it a picture of her parents.

“What am Ah going to do?”

“Sis?” a voice came rumbled outside her door.

“What is it, Mac?”

The door opened and Big Mac stepped in. “You doing ok?”

Applejack stared at the photo for a moment before shaking her head.

“Ah dunno, Mac,” she said. “Ah just got so mad when she did it.”

“That why you told AB to get her gone?”

“Yes. No. Ah don’t know!” She threw up her hooves and fell backward on her bed. “Ah know she didn’t mean anything by it, but Ah just blew up.”

“Considering what she did, Ah can’t blame you,” he agreed. “But now that you’ve cooled down, ya still think everything is square?”

“Just can’t leave well enough alone, can ya?” Applejack huffed. “It’s probably over, and Ah don’t want to see her right now anyways.”

“You forgot you got appointments with the whole gang next week, didn’t you?”

Applejack groaned.

Just great.

Uncomfortable Silences

"Is it just me," Twilight whispered to Rarity as they left the room containing the map table. "Or are Rainbow and AJ having another spat?"

"The worst kind of fight, darling," the prim Unicorn replied. "Where neither one knows why."

"That doesn't make any sense," the lavender Alicorn sputtered. "How can you have a fight without knowing the reason?"

"Twilight, don't you remember the clans in the Smokey Mountains?" Fluttershy asked. "They didn't know either."

"That was because it had been going on for generations and the reason was lost to time!" Twilight protested. "Those two were the best of friends, they are each other's special somepony." There was a look of confusion and sadness in her eyes.

Rarity reached over and rested her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"It is simply their nature," she said. "They're probably both waiting for the other to apologize."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy whispered. "That could be a while."

Rainbow was sprawled out on a cloud as it drifted lazily over Ponyville. Nothing really made sense anymore. Where it used to be that she and AJ would rush to spend time together, the farm pony now actively seemed to avoid her. So she had stopped trying, wanting to give her some space.

But then came the cold silences at council meetings. Sitting around the map table trying not to speak to each other or look into each other was torturous. Even the bottle of cider she had gotten a week ago tasted like ashes in her mouth, robbing her of even that joy.

"I should apologize," she whispered. "But what am I apologizing for?"

She sighed and pulled a section of cloud over her face.

She probably won't even give me the chance to apologize anyway.

"She don't want nothin' t'do with me, Bloom," Applejack said. "She don't even give me the time of day when we do get together."

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Well," she said cautiously. "She did make you cry. Maybe she feels guilty?"

"That's it though," the older mare said. "It wasn't her that made me cry! It was realizing what Ah done. She should know better."

"This is Dash we're talking about, right?" Apple Bloom deadpanned. "It took her forever to catch onto the dropped hints that you fancied her."

Applejack grimaced. "You have a point," she ceded. "But maybe Ah should apologize for yelling at her. It wasn't really called for. Hopefully, she'll listen."

But as she looked up at the sky which was beginning to cloud over, she doubted that she would get to it today.

They both had work to do.

"Rainbow Dash!" A voice shouted over the wind. "Rainbow!"

The Pegasus looked down, seeing Twilight struggling to fly up to the cloud she was laying on. She blinked slowly and turned back into the wind, the slowly increasing rain hiding some of the wet patches of her coat.

"Hi, Twilight," she muttered.

"Rainbow, what are you doing?" The Princess demanded once she caught her breath. "This storm is too much for the season, and now I hear that you sent most of the weather team home?"

"I can handle this one storm, Twi," Rainbow said dully. "I designed it to blow out quick so it wouldn't do much damage."

"Stop it," the Alicorn snapped. "This silly fight between you and Applejack has got to end! You know that all the Apples have come to me about her?"

"So?"

Twilight gaped. "What do you mean, so?" she sputtered. "She's your friend, your best friend! You should care about how she's feeling!"

Rainbow turned, looking her friend in the eye. Twilight could see the bags from sleepless nights and the puffiness from crying.

"You think I don't care?" she whispered. "If that's true, then why does it hurt so much?"

She took off, flying into the wind and being lost to the Alicorn's sight.

She flew aimlessly, finding herself over Sweet Apple Acres in a short time. Seeing movement in the far edge of the farm near a river, she saw a flash of orange in a tree. She froze as she recognized Applejack slowly working her way out onto a limb after her hat, which was stuck near the end of the branch, blown by the strong winds into the tangled limb.

Rainbow dove as she saw the branch shake and crack, catching the farm pony as she fell and setting her down on the ground.

"Are you crazy?" She demanded as the branch fell to the ground, the hat blowing off in the wind. "You should be indoors, not up a tree like a squirrel! What were you thinking?"

AJ wasn't listening as she tried to dive after the hat, being stopped by the Pegasus. "Rainbow," she sobbed. "Catch the hat, please!"

She took the Earth mare and locked eyes. "It's just a hat, AJ!" She shouted as the wind picked up even more. "I'm getting you indoors, and that's it!"

AJ shoved the lighter pony aside, racing to the riverbank, searching for the wayward stetson. "Ya don't understand," she shouted over the wind.

"It was my Dad's hat."

Search

Rainbow Dash drifted on the air currents, following the river downstream. It was badly swollen, it’s raging waters crashing over rocks and curves in the bank that it would have normally gently swirled around.

How much rain did I pack in that storm? she wondered as she banked around a copse of trees, pausing to scan the area again. Her wings ached, and fatigue from the last week was beginning to wear at her, but she refused to stop. It was too important.

“Ah’m starting to get worried, Twilight,” Applejack said. “She’s been gone more’n a week.”

The Alicorn nodded, her horn lighting as she stood before the table. One of her lavender feathers rested on the surface, a bit of silver thread binding a small tuft of rainbow hair to its shaft. In response to her magic, the feather suddenly leaped to the air, gently floating point down over the map, coming to rest on a point not too far west of the Celestial Sea.

“She’s still alive,” Twilight said, noting how the feather slowly twitched eastwardly. “What in Equestria is she doing?”

Applejack glanced down. “She’s after mah hat,” she whispered. “It blew off in that stupid storm she brewed up.”

She seemed to shrink as the Princess’ gaze turned to her.

“She’s gone all this way for a hat?” she asked, not understanding.

“Yeah,” the farmer said, scuffing a hoof on the ground, not looking up. “It’s all Ah got left of mah Dad, Twilight. And Ah might have overreacted when Rainbow took sport of stealn’ it a couple weeks ago.”

“Might have?” Twilight said. She sighed, walking over and resting a wing on her friend’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you just tell her?”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack replied. “Ah was just worried about it at first, and then when she didn’t understand why Ah was so upset, Ah guess Ah forgot she don’t know about its significance until it blew off.”

“Well, she’s still ok,” the Alicorn said, glancing at the map, the feather still drifting lazily over it. “If she can find it, she will and be back as soon as she can.” She glanced out at the sunlight drifting in from the window. “You should go home and get some rest. There’s nothing we can do here except wait.”

The pony nodded, withdrawing from the room. Twilight sighed and dismissed the spell on the feather, it’s slow drift dying.

Starlight stepped out from around the doorway, her gaze narrowed. “You realize that the spell doesn’t actually indicate whether the scried pony is alive or not, right?”

Twilight nodded, her mask of nonchalance falling. “I know,” she confirmed. “But Applejack already feels enough guilt over this. I didn’t want to dump the possibility that Rainbow wasn’t coming back into her mind. She needs the hope.”

Starlight nodded. “You have a plan, then?”

“Not yet,” the Princess replied. “I had Spike send a letter to Baltimare’s contingent of guard and hospital to be on the lookout for her. I can’t believe she’d be this reckless.”

“She feels just as guilty as Applejack, probably,” the Unicorn said, turning to look at the point of the feather. “She did inadvertently cause the loss of a treasured keepsake. I can understand the feeling there.”

A week passed, and Rainbow still hadn’t returned. Applejack was starting to look frazzled from the restless sleep and worry to the point that her family had told her to take time off, which only served to make her worry more.

“Where is she?” she muttered as she walked into town to ask Twilight to do another scry of the Pegasus when she heard a sharp flutter of wings. She glanced over to see a group of Pegasi carrying a stretcher quickly towards the hospital, their pace rapid. As they increased their altitude slightly to avoid a group of school colts, a rainbow colored tail flopped into view.

“Rainbow,” she breathed, taking off after the group of flying ponies, arriving just as the stretcher was borne through the doors of the hospital. As she tried to keep up with it, Redheart stepped in her way.

“AJ, you can’t go back there,” she said softly but forcefully. “You have to let the doctors work.”

“But that’s…”

“I’m sorry, Applejack,” the nurse said gently. “But if you were to go in, you’d just get underhoof. You’re welcome to wait here, I promise you’ll be the first pony I call the second I know anything.”

Applejack watched as the nurse vanished through the doors, hearing orders and questions being called out before the doors swung shut, a symbolism that had Applejack frozen in place.

Recovery

Applejack stood near Rainbow’s bed. She’d seen the Pegasus go through some bad landings before, but this was the worst she had ever seen her. One wing was bound tightly to her side with splinting to keep it still while the other was mostly devoid of feathers. Numerous scrapes, cuts, and bruises covered what parts of her body weren’t covered in bandages, and her left foreleg and right hind leg were both in casts. Her left eye was swollen shut in a black eye and one ear had a stiff bandage holding it still atop her head.

Tears threatened to flow to the surface as Nurse Redheart came up to her.

“She’s alive,” the medical pony said softly. “But she hasn’t shown any sign of waking up. The team that brought her in was amazed she was still as airborne as she was, said she was almost flying dead.”

The mare consulted her chart. “Ten bones broken, eight more fractured in various degrees of severity,” she said gently. “Multiple contusions and lacerations, including one along the base of her ear. She likely has a concussion from the way she’s been tossed around, but until she wakes up, there’s no way to tell if there’s any neurological damage.”

Applejack nodded mechanically, her calm front beginning to crumble.

“Will she be ok?” she whispered.

“Only time will tell,” Redheart said. “I need to go back to my rounds, will you be all right here?”

The farm pony ducked her head to hide the tears leaking free.

“Ah’ll go let the rest of her friends know.”

“I already did,” Twilight spoke up from behind her.

Turning, she found the Alicorn standing in the doorway, a look of concern on her face as she was followed in by the rest of their tight-knit core of friends.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped, a hoof going up to cover her mouth.

Pinkie’s mane started to deflate the moment she saw how bad her friend was injured, uncharacteristically quiet. Rarity gasped in shock while Spike carried in a bundle of flowers with a ‘Get Well Soon’ card.

“She’ll pull through, AJ,” Twilight said, laying a hoof on the clearly distraught pony’s shoulder. “Dash wouldn’t let something like this finish her off.”

A commotion in the hall soon resolved in Scootaloo bursting through the door, freezing upon seeing her idol in the hospital bed.

“No,” she whispered, her lips starting to quiver.

AJ pulled the filly in close, letting her cry against her chest.

“She’ll pull through, sugar cube,” she whispered to the young Pegasus. “She’s got more grit in her than a foot of sandpaper.”

But somehow, she had trouble believing her own words. The sight alone made her want to run and cry like the little pony cradled against her.

She had been given a cot to rest on in the Wonderbolt’s room, maintaining a vigil when she wasn't brought down by fatigue. She was joined on occasion by her friends and Rainbow’s parents, but she was there so frequently that she knew when the staff was coming to change the drips before she even heard them approaching.

Her mane was knotted, her coat matted and in sore need of currying one day when Rarity stopped by.

“Applejack, honestly,” she said as she looked her over. “You can’t simply sit here day after day. I insist you join me for lunch and let me see to your coat. You don’t want Rainbow to wake up and seeing you look like that, do you?”

“Rarity,” the farm pony groaned with a voice that grated with lack of use. “Ah don’t want to be looking all nice when I feel like a rotten apple on the bottom of the hog pen. Rainbow’s like this because Ah was too wrapped up in memory to remember that she didn’t know why a silly hat was important to me.” She looked at the Pegasus, the only improvement over the last week being the reduction of the bruises and swollen eye to blue and yellow splotches under her cyan coat. “She’s in that bed because of me.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?” Rarity said quietly. “It’s not like you bludgeoned her personally.”

The Element of Honesty shot to her hooves, matted coat and tail rippling in annoyance.

“Yes, Ah do,” she growled. “Ah know it because the last words I spoke to her before she darted off were ‘Catch the hat, it was my father’s.’

The reply from the Fashionista was cut short by a hoarse whisper, barely audible.

“What’s a pony got to do to take a nap in peace around here?”

Applejack turned her head, seeing the one good eye fully open, the other cracked through the residual swelling, the sclera still showing a bit of red in it from the injury.

“Rainbow,” she said in a trembling voice. “You’re ok. Thank Celestia you’re ok.”

“I might disagree with you there, AJ,” the flyer whispered. “I feel horrible.”

Rarity excused herself quietly.

“You two deserve some privacy right now. I’ll fetch the doctors, slowly."

The second the door shut, the pair of ponies looked at each other silently. Applejack went over and gently laid her head against the cyan body, taking care not to touch anything bandaged.

“Ah’m glad you’re ok,” she whispered.

Dash gingerly moved to put a hoof on her marefriend’s back.

“I am too,” she rasped. “Um, Applejack?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said with a cautious face. “But, well, you kind of stink right now.”

“You ain’t no spring chicken right now neither,” she retorted with a laugh.

“AJ, before we’re interrupted, is my bag here?”

The farm pony frowned, going to the closet and pulling out the single pannier the Pegasus had on her when she was brought in.

“They just put it in here when they brought you in,” she said, carrying it over. “Why, what’s so important about it?”

Rainbow moved slowly, pulling the bag up and opening it. From the depths, she withdrew a battered brown stetson and offered it to the astonished Earth pony mare.

“I found it,” she whispered with a smile.

Convalescent

Rainbow limped along, stretching out the wing finally freed from it’s splinted cast.

“You have no idea how good it feels to have that off,” she said, giving it a gentle flap. “Now I just got to wait from the rest of my feathers to grow back in and I can return to duty.”

“That’s assumin’ you are healed up proper,” Applejack said. “That rib on your left was busted pretty bad. You ain’t going up till it’s finished healing.”

“It isn’t that bad,” the Pegasus huffed, then hissed as the orange farm pony reached over and poked her gently on the side.

“Seems to be a might tender still,” the pony chuckled. “Now, hopefully, Mac and Bloom got the guest room fixed and aired out by now. You’ll be staying where we can keep an eye on you till those bones finish healing up.”

“I really appreciate this, AJ,” the cyan pony whispered. “And…and I’m sorry it took so long to get back.”

Applejack stopped in mid stride and turned towards the stunt pony.

“You still don’t get it?” she asked incredulously. “You didn’t have to go after it in the first place! It’s just an old hat.”

“It was you dad’s hat, AJ,” she protested. “I couldn’t handle being the cause of you losing that. I’d never forgive myself.”

“And if ya died trying to get it?” came the heated shout from the farmer, tears starting to brim in her eyes. “How d’ya figure Ah’d feel if you didn’t make it back, or if ya hadn’t woke up the other day?”

Rainbow’s ears pinned themselves to her skull, realization more painful than the slowly healing bones. She ruffled her wings, a muted clicking sound from the sheaths of the regrowing feathers brushing against each other. “I’m…”

“Don’t say you’re sorry again,” Applejack said. “Ah’m just happy yer ok and on the mend, is all. That’s the important part, sugar cube.”

She reached out nuzzled the Pegasus along the neck. “You’re more important than any old hat, Rainbow Dash.”

The stunt pony’s ears and wings shot straight up, shocked.

“If anypony got reason to apologize, it should be me,” the Earth Pony whispered. “Ah should have told you about the hat long before Ah did, but talking ‘bout mah folks ain’t easy.”

And she kissed the Pegasus.

“But maybe we can give each other a second chance,” she said. “If’n you’re willing, that is.”

Over the next couple of weeks, Rainbow healed up in the Apple household, exchanging help around the house for board instead of just accepting their generosity. She’d already taken enough for granted about Applejack.

Life went on, one day into the next, but the thought that occupied Rainbow’s thoughts at night was the words that she had been told just before reaching the house.

A second chance, if’n you’re willing…

It wasn’t making sense…She should be asking her for a second chance.

The more she thought about it, though, the less she felt that mistakes were what they needed to talk about.

Mistakes had been made, but rectifying them didn’t undo them. If she had learned anything in her time as the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, it was that sometimes you just have to own up to your shortcomings and keep on going.

“So just what was you needin’ to talk to me about that it couldn’t wait till morning?” muttered the groggy voice of Applejack.

“I couldn’t sleep until I told you this, AJ,” Rainbow whispered, trying not to wake up other members of the household. “I’ve been thinking a lot.”

“That’s a new one,” AJ smirked as she scooted aside to let the Pegasus slide onto her bed.

“I’m being serious, Jackie,” the stunt pony said, looking hard into the emerald eyes of the other pony. “I need to say this, and I need you to hear me out.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes but nodded.

“How long have we been dating now, a year? Eighteen months? And yet, in all that time, we haven’t really said what we wanted out of this relationship. Just went along because we liked each other’s company.

“But that’s not enough, really, you think?” Rainbow said, reaching out and rubbing a hoof along the other mare’s foreleg. “At least, I’m not thinking it is. Not anymore.”

“What’re you saying?” Applejack whispered.

“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me, Applejack,” Rainbow continued. “Kept me on my hooves, made me work for things. I’m just now coming to appreciate everything you’ve done for me.

“You’re precious to me, AJ, and I would give anything to keep you.” She leaned forward and kissed the astonished mare.

“Applejack, you’ve got no reason to say yes, but I’d consider it the greatest honor if you’d agree to marry me.”

The Pegasus closed her eyes, fearing the response. A sudden weight settled on her head and a softness graced her lips. She opened her eyes to see the orange mare kissing her.

And on the edge of her vision was the brim of an old, weatherbeaten stetson.

“What took you so long?” came the whispered drawl.

Epilogue

Twilight smiled as the music pumped through the air in the Castle of Friendship’s grand hall. Vinyl had really outdone herself with this party. This was probably bigger than the party Pinkie had thrown for Shining and Cadence.

She trotted over to the cyan Pegasus who was resting her leg after a dance with Applejack, who was being fussed over by Rarity on the other side of the room.

“Congratulations, Rainbow,” she said, giving the mare a hug. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, wincing as she shifted slightly. Her leg still bothered her, but in a few days the cast could come off and that would allow for a little more range of motion. “I’m just worried that Rarity is going to force some sort of frilly dress on me.”

“I actually think she’s designing you a suit if everything I’ve heard is true,” she said as Fluttershy came up and slid close to the Alicorn. “Though I’m sure you’d both look absolutely radiant, and it would have nothing to do with the clothing Rarity makes you.”

“Why’s that?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Because the sheer amount of love the two of you share would shine through,” she whispered. “I’m glad you two finally worked through your issues.”

“Ah’d hardly say we’ve worked through all the issues,” Applejack said as she came up to the two. “There’s sure to be a few in the coming months. We’re going to try and empty out the closets of secrets, and Ah’m going to bet there’ll be a few talks about it.”

“Better that way, I suppose,” Twilight said. “I know that Fluttershy and I had a few deep heart to heart talks back in the beginning. One that got a little heated.”

“That’s not what happened,” Fluttershy protested.

“She raised her voice,” Twilight said with a teasing voice. “My hoof to Celestia.”

They shared a laugh, the music drifting through the air.

Applejack slid in close to Rainbow, the Pegasus sliding a wing out to slip over the orange mare’s shoulder. She leaned her head against the lean flyer’s body.

“If y’all don’t mind,” Applejack smiled. “Ah’m going to steal this one away for a few.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Of course.”

As they walked out into the night air, Applejack looked into the red eyes of her fiancé.

“So, you got any misgivings?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Just wondering how to adjust,” she said. “I mean, I’m on tour two weeks out of the month when on active duty, and long days practicing.”

“Apple farmin’ ain’t a short day itself, ya know,” the farmer said as they sat on a hill not far from the castle. “And it ain’t like we’re be moving anytime soon. As long as you come back in one piece, Ah’ll be there t’welcome you home.”

“Maybe you’ll show me how to help harvest,” Rainbow said speculatively. “I’ll have to retire from the ‘Bolts one day, after all. And I want to be able to help out my wife with her labors, especially if we decide to try for foals.”

Applejack looked at her in surprise. “We been engaged less than a day and ya’ll already thinking of foals?”

“Like you never have,” the flyer replied. “Ever since Sunset and the other Twilight started trying for them it’s been on my mind.”

“And that’s assumin’ Ah’ll be carryin’ em,” came a warm reply, emerald eyes glimmering with laughter. “What if it was you carryin’?”

Rainbow nuzzled the orange mare’s neck. “We could take turns, I suppose.”

Applejack smiled.

“How about we get through to the wedding first, sugar cube?”

“I think that’s a solid plan,” Rainbow agreed. “You’re hat’s missing something, by the way.”

“How so?”

The flyer plucked the hat from her head with a sweep of a wing, settling it in front of her. She then brought her wing forward and plucked an older feather from it and settled it into the band that went around the rise of the hat. She picked it up and settled it back onto the farm pony’s head.

“What’s that for?” Applejack asked softly.

“Pegasi give a feather to those they hold dear,” Rainbow said. “So they have something of theirs for when they’re apart from each other.”

Applejack smiled.

“Sounds nice.”

Rainbow woke up the next morning and stretched. That’s when she noticed a red maneband resting on her nightstand wrapped around a folded note. She picked it up and read it.

Rainbow,

I wish I could have been there when you woke up, but harvest time is on the horizon and there’s a load of work to be done.

So I left you this. i know you prefer your mane short, but it’s gotten kind of long while you’ve been healing up, so I thought you could use it for the time being.

If nothing else, you’ll have something of mine to keep you thinking of me while we’re apart.

Applejack

Rainbow smiled, bringing the band up to her nose and sniffing. It smelled of nutmeg and rich earth.

It smelled of her marefriend.

She tied her mane back with it before leaving for the hospital.

Maybe I should try growing it out a bit, she thought absent mindedly