Friends Can't Always be Friends

Applejack whimpered and tried to hide her tears. She didn’t understand why Rainbow Dash had just hurt her like she had. Her friends pressed close to her. She took deep breaths trying to hold back her tears. Her heart flared with a mixture of pain and anger. Applejack dug a hoof into the ground and tried to focus.
“Come now Applejack, do not mourn. I’m sure that she didn’t mean it.” Rarity tossed her hair and pressed closer to her friend.
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash hasn’t been herself much today.” Twilight offered a gentle smile. “I’m sure she’ll apologize soon.”
“No Twilight, I don’t think I can be friends with ‘er anymore.” Applejack stood tall, trying to comfort herself. “Not until I hear a very well lined apology at very least.”
“Applejack, don’t you think-” Twilight began
“Oh come now Twilight, our friend was just hurt. I think being a good friend requires us to be supportive and try to make her feel better, not keep making it worse.” Rarity spoke again.
Twilight sighed and moved closer to her friends trying to comfort Applejack. The pony moved away. She looked at them with sorrowful eyes.
“Thank you everypony… but I think I just need to be alone right now.” Applejack moved away from them. She moved away, off into the near-by trees to think and be alone. She kept moving, long after her friends were out of sight. She had very little idea of where she was but it didn’t matter. She was desperate to get away from everypony to begin clearing her thoughts.
Applejack rested under a tree awhile later. She looked around at the unfamiliar lands and rested her head against the tree. How could Rainbow Dash behave like that? Applejack sighed and stomped a hoof on the ground in front of her. She glanced up at the darkening sky with wonder. It was too late to get back to Ponyville safely. Applejack looked around trying to figure out what she would do for safe accommodations through the horror-filled night. She began moving towards a large gaping cave mouth.
“Anypony home?” Applejack called into the darkness and began waiting for an answer. When nothing met her ears she moved in further. “Well I recon that’s my answer.”
Applejack began looking for fallen tree limbs for a fire. Despite herself, in the silent wilderness, she began speaking to herself. “That stupid Rainbow Dash,” she gathered a few twigs, “how could she? All I’ve ever done was be friendly. And fer what? To be called a hick pony…” she gathered a few more twigs, “Why, I aint never been called that before. What could I have done that was so bad that my best friend would leave? I’ve never done her any wrong… and if I did, I sure didn’t mean to.”
Applejack stopped outside of the mouth of the cave her mind stopping in horror. What if she had been being mean to all of her friends without her knowledge? What if they were all acting and they were all angry with her? Even Twilight had seemed to defend Rainbow Dash after she had seen how it had hurt her.
“No…” Applejack whispered, “That’s impossible… they wouldn’t lie to me like that!” Applejack continued her trek into the cave with her findings. “…right?”
As the night wore on, a bitter wind began blowing. Applejack shivered deep within the cave, the fire ablaze with her offering of twigs and fallen tree limbs. She looked into the flames, her mind sifting through the wreckage. She felt like a damp rag hug out to dry on a cloudy day. The longer she stared into the flames; she began feeling herself ebbing away, only to be replaced with her dawning realization. Rainbow Dash had finally said what everypony else was thinking.
“Well if that’s how they want it, I won’t go back!” she stood up, her eyes narrowed. “They’ll all be better off with ol’ AJ out of the picture. Well since I’m the only honest pony in all of Ponyville, I’ll take care of myself from now on!”
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Rainbow Dash sat in the stands, the blaring signs of the Wonderbolts before her. Her mind had finally caught up with her, her conscience screaming and making her feel like a hollowed out tree. She couldn’t help but look towards the Apple Family’s cart. Applebloom stood beside the large figure of Big Macintosh. Her eyes scowered the area, desperately searching for the hated figure of her friend. The apology for Applejack was already on her lips, desperate to escape.
Rainbow Dash turned away and back towards the open arena trying to escape her guilt. She saw Spitfire approach the audience and wave, her goggles resting on the top of her head ready for action. Her fiery mane rested along her neck as she began speaking.
“Hello everypony-” Spitfire’s voice began echoing through the stands gathering the attention of every pony in the audience.
Rainbow Dash gazed upon her idol. She smiled and began cheering with the crowd, her wings quivering. She felt the hollow sensation return. She stopped a moment, quickly glancing back at the Apple Family cart. The figure of Applejack was still absent. Rainbow Dash sighed and turned back toward Spitfire, trying to hear her. She gasped in shock as her friend stood before the microphone talking loudly, the fans drinking in every word.
Rainbow Dash stared all out trying to figure out where Spitfire had gone and why Applejack was in her place. She hurriedly looked around at the crowd. None of them seemed to be able to tell. She turned back to the Wonderbolts and blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. Applejack reared up beside the other Wonderbolts and unfurled her wings.
Applejack didn’t have wings! What was going on? Rainbow Dash stared blankly at Applejack. This didn’t make any sense. Nothing was adding up. The hollow feeling grew worse as she lost focus of the Wonderbolts and could do nothing but stare at her hooves. The feeling within her gut began twisting and sinking deeper into her being. She didn’t understand why she had said those things to her friend. She felt the air around her turn cold as it pressed in closer. She shivered slightly and could see nothing but her hooves. Soon, even the image of her hooves began fogging over and losing focus. All Rainbow Dash could feel was the dark gnawing pit of guilt within her. At ever moment that passed it seemed to get worse.
“Hey RD!” Her voice rang through her body, drawing Rainbow Dash deeper into the abyss. The sound of her voice added a needle-like pang to her darkness. Her mind began flooding with images of her friend. Rainbow Dash drank it in as if she was there before her. The freckles on her face seemed to shimmer; her golden pelt seemed to shine even brighter than the sun. Her little laugh caught in the air and made her world swim. Rainbow Dash’s mind drew towards her eyes. The green pools of her very being drug her through sharp, jagged glass sending the poison of her guilt even deeper.
Her eyes shone finer than the prettiest apple ever plucked. Everything about her friend was there, yet the cold drone of guilty and sorrow held on more than anything. The figure of her best friend began falling away like grains of sand, her sweet cheery laugh coming to an end. The image turned gray and the sands fell away completely, leaving her begging for the image to save her from her own problems.
A sharp kick to the back shove her from her daze. She gasped, feeling the darkness recede and the guilt concentrate back into her chest. She turned around trying to find the source of the blow. A young filly stood with her mother, her eyes wide.
“Why aren’t you watching the show?” The filly asked.
“Huh? Show…?” Rainbow Dash looked around, her memory returning. The stands of ponies cheering began dying down as a few of them began getting up. She looked towards the sky and tried to find the fast pegasi. Only clouds began floating into view as the heat of the bodies around her left. She sighed and looked at her hooves again. She had missed her first Wonderbolts show in all of her life. She sat in silence, her emotions still gnawing through her being. She hardly noticed the soft fwap of air against her back.
“Hey…” spoke a soft voice from behind her. “Mind if I sit down?”
“Sure… why not.” Rainbow Dash noticed the empty sound of her voice.
“How was the show?” An orange pony sat beside her. Rainbow Dash glanced over at the figure trying to place a name with them.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash squealed. “Spitfire!”
“Hey there Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire sat before her, natural. No suit or goggles there on her, she was just herself. “you alright?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be signing autographs?” Rainbow Dash eyed her a bit before sighing loudly. She sat still again feeling as if all of her energy was gone.
“Yeah, you sure act alright.” Spitfire’s sarcastic tone flowed into her ears. “What’s wrong? Usually I can see you cheering and jumping from the clouds. Today I saw a heap of a pony sitting there like she was dead.”
“Oh…” Rainbow Dash trailed off.
“Mind if I ask what’s wrong?” Spitfire glanced over at her.
“Sure.” She answered dully.
Spitfire giggled faintly, the rich sound mixing with Rainbow Dash’s shadow over her heart. “Cute. Now, What’s wrong?”
“Well…” Rainbow Dash began.
“Wait, let’s go somewhere more private. Not everypony needs to hear about your issues.” Spitfire stoop up, waiting for Rainbow Dash to follow suit.
Rainbow Dash realized that Spitfire wasn’t going to just go away. She gathered a breath and stood up, her legs stiff. The fiery pony smiled kindly and began walking out of the stands, Rainbow Dash following sorrowfully.