The Calm Before the Storm
Falling Out
By: Deathpony45
Part 1
"Ca caw," a rooster crowed awakening Rainbow Dash from her comfortable sleep. She smiled thinking of her most recent dream. Like so many others it involved her becoming a Wonderbolt. She yawned and checked the time on her clock.
"WHAT!" She exclaimed looking at how early it was. "10:45 why would a normal pony gets up this early on a Saturday?" she turned back over in her bed an tried to go back to sleep. She failed miserably. Eventually she decided just to get up it was 11:15 now and she had a meeting with Applejack to get to. She flew to Sweet Apple Acres and arrived in 1 minute 45 seconds, a personal best, and trotted over to AJ who was facing away from her leaning on a tree.
"Sup AJ," Rainbow said,
"Wahhhh," Applejack exclaimed startled. She hasn't been expecting Rainbow Dash to be on time she was never on time. Rainbow Dash chuckled,
"Heh heh did I startle you AJ?" Rainbow asked.
"A little bit uh Rainbow are you ok today?" The orange earth pong asked.
"Yeah why?"
"Because yer on time."
"Just cause I'm lazy doesn't mean I'm never on time for stuff." Applejack gave Rainbow an incredulous look.
"Mmhm riiight, anyways yer probably wondering why I called y'all today."
"Maybe a little bit," Rainbow responded.
"We'll you see Big Macintosh hurt himself again an I was a wonderin if'n you'd be so kind as to help me, considering what happened last time."
Rainbow remembered that week quite well AJ had been a totally wreck.
"Sure AJ i'll help but hey maybe we should see if anypony else wants to help."
"Twilights studying, Fluttershy's taking care of Angel, Rarity's on vacation not that shed be much help anyway and Pinkie Pie is planning a party for some new pony in town."
"Heh so it's just you and me the apple and the dash left to conquer an entire apple orchard alone with no help from anypony else."
"Uh yeah sugarcube what ever floats your boat." The two friends began apple bucking I the west field.
"You know we should do stuff like this with our friends more, just hang out and have fun instead of always having some kind of problem to solve or have the fate of Equestria in out hooves." Rainbow said while bucking a tree.
"We'll that's a mighty good idea Rainbow. But unfortunately that's probably never going to happen." Applejack responded. "A pony can dream can't they." Rainbow said in a somber tone and went back to bucking. They had a late lunch around 3 o clock.
"Wo AJ this cider is awesome, as usual."
"Uh isn't that the second glass y'all got?"
"Well technically yeah but its still really good."
"Thanks Dash." Applejack replied rolling her eyes. Rainbow wondered what was up with that but just shrugged it off. They bucked for a couple more hours with the occasional break.
"I can't believe y'all didn't take one nap this whole time." Applejack commented at the end of their hard days work.
"I was seeing if it was actually possible for a pony as awesome as me to do work without a nap." Rainbow said jokingly. She had become much more modest over the years they ha been friends and while still cocky she wouldn't take it to an extreme. Applejack again rolled her eyes,
"Oh yes your all mighty flight master you truly are amazin'." Applejacks sarcastic remark caught Rainbow slightly off guard. Applejack let out a chortle an she figured she had just imagined it.
"Oh well see you tomorrow AJ."
"Naw you don have o come again Rainbow plus we got more done today than we usually get done in three." They surveyed Sweet Apple Acres to find that they had bucked almost half of the farm in one day.
"Wow!" Rainbow said. "That was a lot of work."
"Yup," Applejack replied. "We'll ah guess ill be seeing you later Dash."
"Catch you on the flip side AJ." Rainbow said an then sped off to her home in the clouds. Rainbow had a great day just hanging out with AJ an had gotten a good workout bucking trees all afternoon. She was going to be sore in the morning. But that was a problem she'd deal with later. In the ground Applejack sighed to herself.
"Well that was an extremely hard day of work maybe ill take tomorrow of, me and Dash did get most of the farm bucked today I reckon we deserve a break for a little bit.
The next day Rainbow Dash woke up more on time considering it was noon.
"Today is going to be a good day," Rainbow Dash hopped out of bed and cringed.
"Oh wow a lot more sore than I had thought." Rainbow walked I her kitchen and placed and ice pack on her aching joints.
"That was some hard work yesterday I'm sure glad I don't have to do anymore." After a brief rest an after her joints had cooled off, Rainbow flew outside looking for something to do. She saw Applejack walking around and decided to go say hi. She swooped in beside the orange earth pony and startled her.
"Hey AJ, what's up?" Rainbow asked.
"Nothin much just about to go to the store and buy some food."
"Why?"
"Apple Bloom cooked breakfast." Rainbow doubled over laughing,
"Oh I'm so sorry," she said in between chuckles. Applejack laughed,
"Yeah im just glad she didn't invite Sweetie Bell over or else i'd be getting milk too."
"Don't you have a cow?"
"Eeyup and last time Sweetie Belle was over she tried milking it. Poor little cow got scared outta her mind and wouldn't give out any milk for a week" The two friends shared a laugh, one good long laugh. It would be the last they shared for a long time.
Falling Out Part 2
The Fight
Ponyville was, as usual, calm and peaceful. The birds chirped serenely as the ponies quietly went about their daily business.
Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing seemed wrong.
Rainbow Dash was napping on a cloud just a little ways away from Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was high in the sky, signaling noontime. A sudden breeze caught Dash's cloud moving it directly into the sunlight.
"GAH!" The cyan Pegasus exclaimed, expecting nothing about the sudden bright intrusion on her nap. She had forgotten how small her cloud was, as one roll to the left sent her plummeting straight to the ground. The sudden pick up in breeze and the sense of falling snapped Dash into full consciousness. "Oh, horseapples," she muttered, although she wasn't in any real danger. She did a quick barrel roll to right herself and flapped her wings twice to catch an updraft. She slowly glided down to Sweet Apple Acres. As she finally stuck the landing, she saw Applejack rounding the corner.
"Hey AJ," Dash said. "What's up?"
"Oh hey there, Rainbow!" Applejack said, returning Dash's smile. She was obviously very fatigued, but was happy to see Dash nonetheless. "What are you doing up so early in the afternoon?"
Rainbow shrugged and chuckled. "I kinda fell off a cloud I was napping on."
Applejack chuckled. "Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time would it?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah... so hey, you wanna hang out today?"
"Sorry, Rainbow, but I can't; ah've got work to do."
"What are you talking about? We already bucked pretty much the whole orchard yesterday. I think that deserves a few days' break."
"Of course you do." Applejack muttered. The condescension in the orange mare's tone did not escape the Pegasus it was a tone she had heard many times and one that was starting to make her mad.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow inquired.
"Nothing, Rainbow." Applejack said in a voice that was anything but caring. "It's just that, unlike you, ah actually care about your job and be willing to put in the hard work to get it done."
Rainbow recoiled at Applejack's blunt rudeness. "Woah! that was a bit uncalled for, AJ."
Applejack simply shrugged and made a move to get around Rainbow Dash. Rainbow stepped in front of her, blocking her way and further frustrating Applejack.
"Rainbow, get outta mah way please,"
"Not until you apologize for calling me a lazy bum."
"And why should ah apologize for telling the truth?" That sent Rainbow over the edge,
"Excuse me you bitch, but just because I don't devote every second of my life to my work does not mean I don't do it." Rainbow's tone was quiet and threatening.
Applejack responded in kind. "No, but your constant ignoring it till the last second does."
"Well at least I can loosen up and have some fun every once in awhile instead of living for my work."
"You know, Rainbow, ah'm sure you can get real loose at parties."
"Oh yeah and what's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow glared at Applejack angrily.
"Ah think you know exactly what ah mean by that." Rainbow stomped her hoof into the ground,
"All right, that's it. I don't have to take your shit... you BITCH!" Rainbow screamed.
"THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"
Rainbow Dash lunged at her "friend," ramming into her stomach and knocking Applejack's breath from her body. AJ grunted and slammed her front hooves on top of Dash's head knocking it into the ground. Dash yanked her head up and spit a large clump of dirt at the orange pony, hitting her square in the face. Applejack growled and charged at Rainbow, she turned around and bucked her back legs sending Dash flying into a tree. Dash climbed out of the whole she had made her face covered in pure rage.
Aj went for another buck but figured out quickly that she wasn't making any progress; her opponent was no longer on the ground.m, Dash flew straight up as high as she dared then angled herself directly at Applejack. Applejack closed her eyes and braced for impact...
But it never came. Rainbow opened her eyes to see lavender magic coating her tail, keeping her suspended mere inches from Applejack.
"Twilight," Dash exclaimed. "what the hay are you doing here?!"
The purple unicorn looked up at Dash. "I heard you two screaming at each other and ran here as fast as I could. I just can't bare the thought of you two fighting. For the love of Celestia, just stop."
"Okay, fine. Just as long as she apologizes for insulting me."
Applejack scoffed. "Ah don't see how telling the truth is insulting."
Dash struggled against Twilights magic. "Twilight let me down so I can knock some sense into the stupid hick!"
"No!" Twilight yelled, adamant in her stance on the matter. "I'm not letting either of you go until you apologize to each other."
"Ah'm not apologizing to that arrogant, lazy, selfish whore, Twilight."
"And I never wanna see that stuck up , bitchy, inbred hick either."
"Well then, it looks like we finally agree on something sugarcube."
"Maybe your not as dumb as you look after all, Applejack."
Applejack snarled at Dash. "Don't go pushing it, you hussy."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
And with that, Applejack stalked off.
"No, Applejack! Wait!" the magic holding Rainbow Dash's tail in place suddenly faded away, leaving Rainbow Dash again face down in the dirt.
"Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash. I'm so sorry,"
"It doesn't hurt, Twilight, don't worry about it." Dash said, wiping the dust off her face. "I've finally had enough of her stupid 'look at me ah'm Applejack and I'm so much better than you' attitude,' it makes me sick, Twilight."
Twilight hoped against hope Dash didn't mean what she said. "You really can't stand her anymore, Dash?"
"I want nothing to do with her, Twilight," Dash said, getting in position to fly off. "Simple as that. See yah later, egghead."
With that, Rainbow shot off into the sky, leaving Twilight alone in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres to take in what just occurred.
"This is terrible..." was all Twilight could think to say. My two best friends...aren't friends anymore.
Author's Note
Ugh finally. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I was finished writing it about a week ago and when I was trying to copy paste it to send to the editor I accidentally deleted half of it (insert face hoof here) but I got it done and out now so I hope it was worth the wait. (Also I threw a reference to a song in there somewhere so see if you can spot it) comments appreciated
