An Autumn Romance

Author's Note: Sorry that the chapters take longer and longer to come out. Don't blame me, blame the Ontario School System! I really like this chapter, and I hope you all do too! As always, and feedback and story ideas are welcomed. I really want some input from you guys on what you want to see happen! Oh, and any ideas for any other fic's I should write would be nice too (I won't stop writing this one, just an opportunity to try something new.) Enjoy!

Chapter 6: A Plan In Motion

As the sun sunk lower and lower in the sky, Twilight raced towards Sweet Apple Acres. Bon Bon had given her the perfect idea. A way she might be able to get Rainbow to overcome her pride. She smiled while thinking to herself. Sure, Dash probably won't like what she was planning, but it was her only option. She simply needed to re-create what had happened with Pinkie.

The purple unicorn tore up the path to the farm house, and stopped. She probably should have considered what to say when she arrived. After pondering for a moment, she trotted up the steps of the house and knocked on the door.

A call came from inside the home. “Eh? Wh...Who's there?” An old mare glanced out the window towards Twilight, who just smiled and waved. “Applejack, one of yer friends is here!”

There was the sound of hooves on the wood floor, and the door soon swung open to reveal the orange earth pony. “Twilight! What bring ya 'round these parts so late?”

She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her friend. “Sorry it's so late, but I need you to do something for me. Could you come by the library at, say, noon tomorrow?” Twilight felt nervous. Her plan needed only two things, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Without them both, the plan would fall apart. She felt that AJ would be the best pony to know about the couple and, being the element of honesty, would tell Dash how she truly felt about them being together.

“Sure sugarcube, whatever ya need.” Applejack took a good look at Twilight and noticed her slightly disheveled appearance. “By the way, are ya doing OK? Looks like you've been crying...”

Twilight's brain went into full panic mode. She hadn't come up with a reason for how she looked yet! The emotional day had taken a lot out of her, and it obviously showed. She tried to talk, but only managed to stammer slightly.

“Hay, if ya don't wanna talk 'bout it, that's fine. Just know I'm here for ya.” AJ smiled, calming Twilight down a bit.

“Thanks AJ, you're a good friend.”

• ~ -

Twilight slowly trotted towards Dash's house. Everything had gone well with Applejack, now she just needed the other half of her plan to agree. After a couple minutes of walking, she was below the fluffy cloud house. “Hay Dash! I need to talk to you!”

From the ground she saw a small, cyan head poke out from the edge of the cloud, and soon the pegasus was floating on down to meet her. She landed softly, while hanging her head and doing her best to avoid eye contact with the purple unicorn before her.

“Twilight, I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I..I know how you must feel, but I just can't tell everypony about 'us'.” Dash continued to stare at the ground, until Twilight lifted her gaze with her hoof.

“It's fine Dash, I understand. I just thought that we would be happier if others were there to support us. Still, I don't want to make you uncomfortable.” Twilight felt terrible lying to Dash, but it needed to be done. “I was wondering if you would want to come over tomorrow. Say, around, 10:00? I was going to make breakfast.” She had debated inviting her over for the night, but the thought of using Rainbow like that appalled her. Talk about going a little too far!

The pegasus lit up upon hearing the proposition, with a smile spreading across her face. “Sure! That sounds great!”

Twilight leaned forward and gave Rainbow a small kiss on the cheek. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow...”, her sentence trailed off as she turned and began to walk away. Knowing Dash would be looking, she was sure to wiggle her flanks as she walked.

Dash stood there, unable to control the smile she had. Her eyes moved with every flick of Twilight's rump. Maybe everything would be alright after all. Twilight seemed very understanding. Once the unicorn had disappeared from view, she unfolded her wings and gently flapped upwards. Yes, everything would be just fine.

• ~ -

Twilight arrived at the library just before dark, and headed up to bed. She was going to have a long day tomorrow, and she hoped everything would turn out alright.

• ~ -

Twilight woke before the crack of dawn. She wanted to make sure everything was ready for her guests. After sleepily trotting down stairs, she lit a fire in her fireplace and headed into the kitchen. She floated out a large frying pan and mixed a batch of pancake batter together. Once she had finished, she set the table for three, wondering if Spike would be joining them. If there was ever a day to sleep in, this is the one she was hoping for. Finally, everything was straightened up, and all was ready. She trotted back into the mane room, laid down on a cushion by the fire place, and fell back asleep,

Twilight was quickly awoken by a knocking at the front door. She looked over at the clock on her wall, seeing it was 10:00am already. Wow, time sure flies, she thought to herself. Slowly, she rose up and walked over to the front door. It opened to reveal Rainbow Dash with a bottle of orange juice under her wing.

“Morning Dashie.” The unicorn said while still rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Come on in.”

Rainbow followed Twilight inside, and set the bottle down on the table. The fire had gotten low in the time Twilight had been asleep, and she threw a couple of logs on the fire to get it going.

“I'm going to get started on the pancakes. Make yourself at home.” Twilight tried to look as inviting and awake as possible while still fighting off the sleep in the back of her mind. She wandered into the kitchen as Dash took as seat on a cushion near the fire.

The warmth was just what she needed. After flying to get the juice in the cold autumn air, she needed the heat to bring some life back to her. Rainbow sunk deeper and deeper into the cushion as she looked back and examined what had happened the last few days. Their relationship was not even a week old, and it seemed to be moving along quickly. Almost too quickly. She was happy for a moment to relax, and to see where their relationship stood. Twilight obviously shared her feelings, but she seemed so...so...brave.

Dash was surprised by her realization. Was Twilight more brave than her? She always pushed herself, doing the most dangerous stunts that the other pegasi wouldn't dare to do. However, if she could do all that, why couldn't she tell anyone about herself, her feelings? Wasn't her bravery what everyone loved her for?

Rainbow's thoughts were interrupted by Twilight walking in with a plate stacked high with pancakes. “Ready for breakfast?”, She called to they cyan pegasus staring off into space.

“Oh..uh...yea!” Once she was back to reality, Rainbow trotted over to the table and sat down. Her stomach rumbled with anticipation. “Let's eat!”

• ~ -

The meal seemed similar to their first lunch together. They talked about life, not worrying about anything that had happened recently. Dash talked about the weather patrol and her new tricks, while Twilight gave a mini-lecture on the parasprites. She had become fascinated by the creatures ever since they had attacked Ponyville. After a while, they were finished with the meal and lay snuggling by the fire place.

Rainbow lay on Twilight's chest, her head slowly rising and falling with each breath from the purple unicorn. She was happy, plain and simple. There was no need to try to impress her marefriend, and she was just able to savor the moment. Minutes passed like seconds with both the ponies enjoying the bliss of being together. Eventually, a knock came at the door. Rainbow's daydreaming caused her to miss the sound, along with Twilight calling the pony at the door to come in. However, soon she was brought back to Equestria when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

Applejack stood there, looking slightly out of place. “Umm, hiya you two...Twilight, ah can come back another time...”

Dash immediately stood up, scared out of her wits. “AJ! It's not what it looks like!”

The orange earth pony had regained her composure and chuckled slightly at the look of panic on her friend's face. “What does it look like, Rainbow? That you and Twilight are together?”

“Yes...I mean no! Uhhhh..” Her voice trailed off into unintelligent stammering.

Applejack chuckled again, and looked Dash in the eyes. “Calm down, Rainbow. Ah ain't gonna tell no one. To be honest, ah had some suspicions ever since the other night.”

After watching everything from the sidelines, it was Twilight's turn to look shocked. “But...how did you know?”

AJ looked back and forth between the two mares in front of her. “Really?” The two continued to stand there, dumbfounded. “After Rarity's little fashion show we all went to dinner, remember?” Twilight and Dash both managed to nod their heads. “During that night, you two were always side by side. Heck, during dinner Rainbow was sitting there, staring off into space. If ah had ever seen the look she had on before, I'd seen it on Big Mac when he's in love with some filly.”

A silence hung in the air after Applejack's final words. Twilight was scared stiff, wondering if Dash would realize she planned the whole thing. Slowly, the cyan pegasus sat down and Twilight was able to breath a sigh of relief.

“So..you don't think...less of me?” Dash managed to stammered out while staring at AJ.

“Now why would I think less of ya, sugarcube?” Applejack walked over and put a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder, with Twilight following suit from the other side.

“But..I'm a fillyfooler...”, Dash whispered while looking down at her hooves. She felt too ashamed to face her friend.

“That doesn't make you any less of a pony to me. Ya are who ya are, and there is nothing I would do to change that.” She tilted Rainbow's head up so she was looking her in the eyes. “Heck, look at Twilight here! She's being strong and she was caught just like ya were. I'm not treatin' her any different, and ah won't treat ya any different either.”

Dash smiled, with tears in her eyes, and wrapped both of the other ponies in a big hug. “Thanks so much AJ. That means a lot to me.”

“No problem, sugarcube. Now, can I have a moment to talk to Twilight? Something I came over here about.”

Dash released the two, and trotted over to the bathroom to clean herself up. She felt like a mess, but a good mess. It was nice to know that her friend accepted her, no matter what.

Once Rainbow shut the door behind her, Applejack turned towards the purple unicorn. “Don't tell me ah came here this morning to catch you two together.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Well...”

“Twilight, that's just deceitful!” AJ looked towards the unicorn, slightly taken aback. “Ah wouldn't have expected such a thing from you!”

“If I didn't force you to catch us, Dash wouldn't tell anypony!” Twilight was talking in a loud whisper, so she wouldn't be overheard. “It was the only thing I could think of to do!”

Applejack just smiled, and gave Twilight a hug. “Whatever the method, ah know you meant well. As long as Dash made it out OK, it's fine. Ah won't tell her, but you best be keeping her feelings in mind.”

“Don't you worry, AJ.”, She smiled, knowing everything had turned out successfully. “I won't do anything to hurt her.”