So many of our dreams seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon our will, they become inevitable
The wind brushed against Applejack's mane as she rode Twilight's hot air balloon towards Rainbow's cloud palace. The cool wind gently caressed her coat and allowed her to feel a certain coldness that she would have never felt down there at the farm. She understood, even if only a little bit more, why many pegasi enjoyed flying. In the skies, it seemed like limitations were a myth. Applejack felt like she controlled both the land and the sky. Not many earth ponies get to ride a flying machine, most of them would rather take the train or trot towards their place of destination.
However, Applejack wasn't on this air craft to go sight seeing nor to relax, she was here to visit a certain mare who, she believed, needed her the most.
Knock Knock Knock, Applejack could hear the sound of her hooves colliding with the cloud doors echo inside the house from the outside. She mentally thanked Twilight for casting the cloud spell on her so she could come in contact with clouds as solid objects and not as gas forms.
No answer.
Knock Knock Knock, Applejack tried again, this time, a little stronger than before.
Still no answer.
Applejack brought her muzzle closer to the edge of the door and softly called out, "Rainbow Dash?"
Silence.
Applejack sat down in front of the door and stared eagerly at the doorknob, hoping to hear a clicking sound and seeing Rainbow greet her with her usual egotistic comment about her "awesomeness." She wished that Rainbow would come out and tell her that everything she had done was just an act.
Rainbow, you're one of the most energetic pony Ah know. Every time something bad happens to you, you get up the next day and shrug it off. When the fate of Equestria lies on your hooves, you don't care if the situation is hopeless, you're willing to fight until you know you can't give no more, Applejack thought. She put her hoof on her stetson and brought it down to cover her face.
Then why, why haven't you gotten back up in three days after being fired from the wonderbolts? This isn't like you Dash. Why are you still holed up in this house of yours when you should be down there with your friends? Applejack sighed, if she left now, if she put her hooves on Twilight's hot air balloon and sailed downwards back to ponyville to buck some apples, who knows what would happen to Rainbow.
Applejack knew Rainbow Dash really well, she knew that Rainbow was very driven, willing to do anything to achieve her goals. The price to pay however for such motivation however, was very big. All that inspiration, all that motivation, without a goal to direct it at just implodes on the pony and destroys them from the inside. And Rainbow had just lost hers when she got scraped off the wonderbolts.
"Well, ah ain't letting some stupid cloud door get in the way of me and Rainbow," Applejack stood and up turned around. After a full second, she reared her hind legs back and gave the door a kick that could have made Giant Sequoias shake.
The door flew backwards inside, breaking the hinges and shattering whatever was left of the lock. It collided with a few metal objects inside the house which sent of various echoing noises around the house.
Applejack flinched, Sorry 'bout that
She expected Rainbow to come running out to see who had just barged in her front door, but the last of the noises came from the far end of Dash's living room— the sound of glass shattering as it collided with the floor.
It was dark inside, after all, the sun was already halfway through the horizon when she rode on Twilight's balloon. She remembered a light switch right beside the door when she visited during winter. Tapping her hoof near the door, she felt a little bump and flipped it, illuminating the whole place with bright white.
What befell Applejack's vision made her heart sink into the depths of the emotional abyss. Trophies were scattered on the floor, some shattered, some barely holding themselves together. There were remnants of paper glued on the cyan wall and multiple ripped pieces laying on pieces of furniture.
A small wastebasket beside applejack was filled with pictures of Rainbow Dash with her heroes and the medals which she won in the Equestria Games. Applejack grabbed some pictures and examined it, some were pretty recent, she could remember rainbow flying with the wonderbolts at the exact same time this picture was taken— a few weeks ago.
"Dash..." Applejack blearily muttered under her breath.
The whole room was silent, it had lost the natural vigor and tenacity it had inherited from its owner. The trophies, which prided themselves in the superiority of their winner, were shamefully hiding what was left of their murky steel. The air around the room walked— just walked past Applejack instead of rushing past her when a certain mare refused to put her hooves on the ground. The house that once held the constitution of one of the most energetic ponies now only lies in wait for the tragedy that will seemingly come in the future.
Applejack shook her head, "no," she ran up the stairs, ignoring any signs of Rainbow's defeat and resignation. Once she was in front of Rainbow's room, she put her hooves on the doorknob far gentler than how Mr. and Mrs. Cake held their foals.
Click
The door creaked as it slowly moved away from Applejack. She didn't put a hoof inside, Applejack simply let the door have its way with the force she had exerted on it. Despite the urgent need she felt to be right beside Rainbow, the aura of crushing defeat coming from inside the room enveloped her and was forcing her to back down and give up, for the being inside the room had no intention of becoming what it once was.
Again, darkness. What remained of the scarlet sunlight was blocked off by thick curtains. Multiple switches beside the door were all flipped downwards. Applejack could tell from the silhouettes that more items were scattered around the bed, forgotten and ignored by whoever had once held them.
Applejack pulled her stetson down to her face and uttered a short prayer to the scattered remains of Rainbow's old life. Like her stetson, which had its own story, they had theirs.
Her eyes then focused on a large mass which lay— no, was slung over the bed. The light that remained in the room illuminated colorful rainbow streaks which simply flowed to the edge of the bed.
A tear formed in the base of Applejack's eyes. She fought back the overwhelming feeling and walked straight to the bed, making sure to evade any object that lay on the floor.
Normally, whenever she comforted Rainbow in the past, her methods included either a smack on the head or a sermon followed by few words of inspiration or motivation. Now, it was different. This wasn't some small blunder that needed a whack to fix— this was something far more serious and grave. This was something which amounted to a pony's life, a pony's future.
At that moment, that specific moment, Rainbow needed something else.
Applejack raised her hoof and gently placed it on Rainbow's back. Rainbow was facing the curtains which covered the sun so Applejack couldn't determine whether the pony was asleep or awake. However, one thing was for sure, she was motionless and static. When Applejack's hoof grazed her back, there were no signs of response.
She's awake, Applejack could tell. She had been with Rainbow long enough to know whether the Rainbow was fast asleep or not.
The singing of passing birds could be heard from the outside of Rainbows room. They didn't seem to be aware of the graveness of the situation. Living their happy lives, eating, sleeping, and eating again, they weren't aware of the definition of success. They had no dreams, nothing to drive them to make use of what they have— their lives— to make Equestria safe.
Tears fell from Applejack's face and dropped straight into Rainbow's coat. She tried to find the right words to say, the right words to magically "fix" this "friendship" problem. That's how it always was right? One word, a few sentences, and the next day nothing about the past incident has happened.
No, right now, there was nothing to say.
Applejack moved her hooves around Rainbow's back, caressing the her soft coat. She could tell from the rigidity of her coat that she hadn't moved from this spot in three days, but nevertheless, just a few inches away from her hooves was probably one of the most precious things in the world.
Rainbow's heart.
Applejack let out a few more tears onto Rainbow's back, " Rainbow..." she trailed off, "you've done enough."
The moment those words left her mouth, her eyes caught a glimpse of a quick blur and she felt two lean but firm hooves embrace her neck. Rainbow dug her head deep into Applejack's coat. There were no words said, only a connection which Rainbow decided to share with only Applejack. A link to her special place, her heart. Applejack knew that Rainbow's response meant she had given herself to her, she had exposed her spirit in its weakest state. Applejack knew Rainbow believed in her— trusted her— as much as she did Rainbow. After all, they always had this link they never shared with the rest of their friends.
Applejack smiled warmly and ruffled Rainbow's mane with one of her hooves. The part of her coat which Rainbow had dug herself into was dry. Applejack's heart felt heavier than it was before, she of all ponies know what this meant.
She lowered her head into Rainbow's laid-down ear and spoke in a soft tone, "if you can't cry—" a tear fell from her cheek and went straight into the back of Rainbow's ears, "—then I'll cry for you."
She felt her coat getting wetter and wetter after uttering those words. Rainbow didn't move an inch, she didn't laugh, she didn't turn back around, she simply cried. There were no moans or wails of defeat, they were tears that Rainbow had reserved for Applejack, only Applejack who she knew she could show this side of her.
Applejack sat down and hugged Rainbow, she tried to find some sort of quick remedy to the situation, but deep inside, she knew these things took time. These events which a major part of ponies' lives revolve around can't be fixed in a jiffy, they had to be nurtured, cared for back into their original state. Or, they could be grown out into a better pony, one who has learned and has decided to live once again.
At the moment, Applejack could only give Rainbow her company.
"We both need a break sugarcube," Applejack whispered, " you and I, in a place where we can only feel each other's presences— each other's company, that'd be nice."
An idea dawned upon her head, she wasn't sure whether that would have any effect on the current situation, she wasn't sure whether it was what Rainbow really needed, and she definitely wasn't sure whether it was the right thing to do, nevertheless, Applejack felt that it was what could help Rainbow the most. Rainbow needed a purpose to live, a purpose to survive in Equestria, she needed something that could replace what she had lost.
Rainbow needed a new dream.
"Dash," Applejack scooped up Rainbow Dash and slung her in her back with Rainbow not softening her grip on Applejack's firm neck. "Come with me," Rainbow's face was still buried in Applejack's coat, but there was no act of resistance to Applejack's will. Even as Applejack ran from Rainbow's room to the outside of her house, she could feel Rainbow's head still nestled in her coat.
Upon reaching the door, Applejack slowly came to a halt. The scarlet sun that once radiated warm light had now been replaced by the cool and silent moon. For most, this was a time for rest, a time for regaining what was lost in the morning, a time to drift into a relaxing slumber that brought one away from the limits of the real world. It was a time for imagination.
For Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it was the beginning of something new.
Applejack stared at the purple hot air balloon as it was gently played around by the wind. Only the rope that held it onto a nearby cloud kept it from wandering off on its own direction.
One hoof after the next, with Rainbow Dash still clinging to her back, Applejack stepped inside the balloon. The surroundings were dim, only the candle light in the balloon along with the moon and its companions lighted up the night sky. Applejack could see from above that majority of the houses had turned off their lights, ready to transition into the next day.
Applejack stopped for a moment, she didn't know what to do next. Her main focus a few moments ago was taking Rainbow Dash away from anything and everything that reminded her of her painful past. Now that they were here, she had no idea where to go next. Her barn? Twilight's castle? Canterlot? Applejack hadn't planned on what she would do after.
She untied the rope that anchored the hot air balloon to the cloud and threw off any weight she could get her hooves on except the saddle she brought with her. Applejack listened closely as the rope slipped away from the loop and travel downwards onto the cloud, saying goodbye to the object it had held to only for so long.
As the hot air balloon rose into the sky, once again to travel into the mysteries of the sky, Applejack slowly let herself down onto the floor of the balloon's basket.
After a few minutes, silence surrounded the area, no birds were here to share their joys nor was there any sunlight to invade her and Rainbow's privacy. As Applejack had wished beforehand, only Rainbow Dash and her were the only ponies in their own fragile world.
Applejack stared into the night sky, she had no idea where the balloon would go to. Twilight gave her some way of manually controlling the direction of the balloon. but at the moment, she didn't care where she or Rainbow Dash went as long as they were there together. Applejack placed a hoof on Rainbows chest, once again to caress her friend's fragile heart.
Her ears perked up, She's asleep.
Rainbow's heart was beating softly in Applejack's hoof. It was not the usual uncontrollable beats that dominated Rainbow's heart, but the calm and serene aura that Applejack had succeeded in giving her. Applejack smiled before she let one final tear fall from her eyes into her hoof. She deserved that one tear at the very least. Sleep had not been part of Rainbow's life for nearly three days— until now.
"Dash..." Applejack whispered again, this time in a way she had never mentioned anypony's name. She had mentioned Rainbow's name multiple times today, but each had a different meaning from the rest.
Applejack decided that she would let the wind carry her. She should have been used to it by now, the rain, the weather, and the sun had always controlled the farm. Yes, she worked, but that was only to adapt to what the weather ponies or Celestia had been giving her. Today she would have to leave her and Rainbow's fate to the being that ruled the universe.
Rainbow was still hugging her tightly from the front, Applejack decided she should return the favor and hugged the sleeping mare with her firm hooves as her eyelids began to fall.
What happens now, ah guess its upta fate.
Darkness.
*****
The sky, silver from the gentle glow of the moon, surrounded the hot air balloon where the two mares lay. Up north, a dragon was making a nest for her eggs with the best jewels she could find. Fluttershy's bear was snoring in the wilderness southwards in the everfree forest. Glowing auras that belonged to nobody began to accumulate above the balloon, forming a wave-like formation of blue-green lights in the upper sky.
Applejack's eyes darted open to a strong minty flavor whose source seemed to be coming from her lips. The taste was sweet, tender, but ultimately indescribable as she realized that a pair of lips had found themselves on hers. In this little world of theirs, Rainbow had made her second step to recovery. Applejack saw in Rainbow's eyes her hope for a new future, hers contained the same message as well.
Rainbow made no attempt to separate from the mare she loved when she realized Applejack had her eyes wide open. Instead, she had inserted her small tongue into Applejack's muzzle. It further explored her mouth until it had found her tongue. Applejack on the other hand, was undoubtedly surprised of the kiss. Although she couldn't deny the fact that it was intoxicating and at the same time, endeavoring, she couldn't believe that Rainbow had seen her more than a friend.
Cyan hooves slowly grabbed hold of Applejack's head as the wings went for the back, pulling Applejack closer to Rainbow. Applejack could only respond by wrapping her own hooves around Rainbow's back and closing the gap between them even further. The kiss they shared opened a pathway for all their emotions communicate without the use of words. Everything that couldn't be described with mere words were translated through the fiery kiss.
A speck of orange light passed through the side of the hot air balloon, blowing past the ponies who were to consumed by their passion to notice. Like value of its existence to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the rest of the surroundings mattered none to the two. At this very moment, as far as Rainbow Dash and Applejack knew, they were the center of their own universe.
Bathing under the soft glow of the stars and wave-like aura, the two ponies embraced each other and gave it their all in expressing emotions which they have kept low ever since they'd arisen.
After a few minutes of unrestrained kissing, Applejack and Rainbow Dash lay in each other's hooves , simply enjoying the company of the one pony they loved physically and mentally. During the event, no words were said, no sounds were uttered other than the soft moans they couldn't hold back. Only tears and their passionate actions relayed what they really felt for each other.
"Feeling better sugarcube?" Applejack asked Rainbow Dash while ruffling her rainbow colored mane. She could see Rainbow immediately hide her blush underneath her orange coat. This was one of the uncommon sides of Rainbow Dash, but it was also one of the cutest— and the one that Applejack cherished the most.
Rainbow, with her ears lowered, peeked out of Applejack's warm body, "yes..." she whispered softly. Her voice was so faint that had the wind blown at the exact same time Rainbow uttered those words, they would have been lost.
Both of them had no idea where they were at the moment. Applejack had simply let the wind guide Twilight's balloon in the night sky with no supervision from her whatsoever. Nopony knew how many nights the two of them had been asleep inside the basket of the balloon. However, Applejack could tell from the scent coming from the wind that they were in a place that both of them had not been in before. As a farmpony she was an expert with her sense of smell, but she could not identify the odor swirling in the air at all.
The scent had a mix of fresh soil that had been rained upon, but at the same time had the cool smell of a well-endowed forest. Along with multiple types of smells, many of which she could not identify was present in their atmosphere and mixed together to form an overall scent that felt natural. She could tell that the smell was not synthesized nor was it leaking off someplace else, it was this specific area's distinct natural scent.
"Applejack" Rainbow Dash called out softly.
Applejack looked directly at her with gentle eyes, "Yes, sugarcube?"
Rainbow dash nestled her face at Applejack's neck, trying to enjoy the smoothness and at the same time, the rigidity of the farmpony's coat. "Why did you come for me?"
Applejack gave her a small whack at the head, now this question deserves a smack at the noggin, "Dash, you hafta learn to stop asking the obvious" Applejack chuckled.
Red began to spread in both of Rainbow's cheeks as Applejack smiled at her. "I-it's not that I don't know—" she closed her eyes and laid her head on Applejack's neck, "—I want to hear it from you, directly."
This time it was Applejack who felt the heat rise to her cheeks, "w-well ah—" she pulled her stetson over her head to cover her face, —ah just..."
"Just what?" Rainbow asked, Applejack could feel her stare breaching the protection her stetson was providing.
Applejack kept quiet, "Ah just—" she looked away, she could feel the redness in her cheeks spread to her ears, "— wanted to be there for you when no one else could. Ah wanted to be there with you when you seemed to be falling into some sorta dark moments. ah can't entrust you to just anypony, others see you as Rainbow Dash, awesome and brave, but ah see you as Dash, the mare ah..."
Applejack stopped. At that moment she had one of the largest realizations she had ever had in her life. It wasn't that she just saw Rainbow Dash as a friend, she simply believed that she did. But in truth, her heart had ultimately been taken by Rainbow Dash far before she had begun to question her feelings for Rainbow.
"...Ah love." Applejack continued, "Dash, you're special to me. When you hadn't stepped outa your home for three days, ah didn't feel worried, ah didn't feel anxious nor sad for you. ah felt scared."
She stared Rainbow in the eyes, if her words couldn't bring the message to Rainbow, then her eyes could definitely tell their story, small tears were falling from the base, flowing through her cheeks and dropping onto Rainbow's face below.
"You'd lost your dream, your purpose, your life, and when a pony don't have no dream, they end up being something other than themselves, and ah was afraid of losing—" she brought her muzzle close to Rainbow's ears and softly whispered her next words, "my Dash."
Rainbow's ears perked up after hearing those words, she grabbed Applejack's head and slowly brought it close to hers until their muzzles were only an inch apart. " Well, your Dash isn't going anywhere without you." she gave Applejack a soft peck in the lips before backing down.
No sun was there to signal the start of the day yet, nor the end of Applejack and Rainbow's journey. Life seemed to return its favors this way, by granting favors to those who needed it the most.
From inside the basket, Applejack could see what hovered above the hot air balloon. Her eyes grabbed hold of the glowing wave-like auras that dance in the moonlight and the subtle silver that came with it. Unlike the nights she saw when Twilight observed the night sky with her telescope, this night had something that didn't particularly strike her as "normal." If Applejack had tried to wrack her mind for a word to describe the scene, it would have been "enchanting."
"Thanks, Applejack," Rainbow sat up and hung her hooves on the edge of the basket and placed her head on top of it, staring into the horizons beyond. "For everything."
Going into the edge of the hot air balloon and taking the same position beside Rainbow, Applejack finally glanced outside the basket to see where the balloon had traveled. "Ah've barely done anything at all," a small purple wisp passed by Applejack's nose, making the pony scrunch up her muzzle.
"You've done enough," Rainbow replied without taking her eyes of the multiple orbs that danced below them.
Applejack hadn't noticed it the first time, but the second time she concentrated on the her surroundings she realized that where they were,and how they got in this particular place, she had no clue. Time was a tricky being, capable of inducing such confusion and chaos at the same time, but it is also one of the best keeper of secrets. What has happened in the past is done, it cannot be revisited nor can it be changed.
"The wonderbolts were my dream, they were my heroes." Rainbow said, "I wanted to be like them, to feel what they feel, to experience the awesomeness they carried around with them. It turns out, being a wonderbolt was more than just being awesome, it was more complicated than what I imagined."
"Paperwork?" Applejack asked.
Rainbow nodded, "not only that, there was a race for power. There was some sort of ranking that everypony had, and the higher the rank, the more ponies you get to command." a small gust blew past Rainbow's mane, allowing Applejack to see a small, colorful glimmer in the midst of Rainbow's head.
Rainbow's eyes fell down to the land below, which had trees spread out like a forest, but the pattern was unlike any forest she had encountered. Her thoughts lingered to her childhood dreams which had been her drive in the past. "I guess I just didn't feel like being part of the battle they were all in. I wanted to be a wonderbolt for an entirely different reason."
Rainbow looked at her hooves, Applejack saw a part of Rainbow's past just by looking at her dreary eyes. A small sigh came from Rainbow, "I just wanted to be awesome."
Applejack wished she had some sort of net to catch the small,fragile heart that was sinking down a black pit. Rainbow's last sentence contained everything from the moment she created her dream, to the day it ended. Every wish Rainbow could be thoroughly explained with one word.
"Awesome," Applejack muttered, that was Rainbow's dream.
A small glitter caught Applejack's eyes as Rainbow opened up a sandbag and threw a bit of sand into the air. It was accompanied by a shine that Applejack knew sand couldn't produce. She glanced at Rainbow and saw a stream running over her cheeks. There was no sound, no sudden movement, just tears.
"What now?" Rainbow asked, "Applejack... I'm lost. Being a wonderbolt was all I am, all I ever was, and now it's gone."
Applejack could feel weight pressing on Rainbow's heart on her own. Life is a disease, none of her friends mention it, no one talks about the depth of pony life, but nevertheless it's still there. It's the most grand secret the world holds, yet also the secret it exposes the most. The hardships of life, the lies, struggles that control everypony, it's there, but no one actually admits its there.
If my dream didn't come true..., Applejack suddenly felt herself nearly crushed beyond repair at the thought of her dream failing. If her dream fell, would there be any remedy for her?
"Dash," Applejack placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, "then I guess it's time for a new dream to take over your life."
Rainbow glanced at Applejack, "but dreams don't come true, chasing new ones will be pointless if they keep falling apart." It was stubborn of Rainbow to believe in that, after all, it goes against every lesson parents are teaching their foals every night before they sleep. After experiencing what it was like to live in the real world, Rainbow's eyes had been exposed to the harsh secret of the world— that every suffering is just simply a part of life. It's inevitable.
A hoof found itself under Rainbow's muzzle and lifted it up to meet Applejack's glowing eyes. "Then keep on dreaming, even if a million dreams have fallen apart, make another million."
"B-but the pain, the hurt, the sadness of losing a dream—" the hoof under Rainbow's chin quickly went to her lips and then moved again behind her back along with another hoof for an embrace.
"Then I'll be there, sugarcube," Applejack closed her eyes and imagined a faint smile coming from Rainbow, "every dream that gets broken, every dream that is created, just look at your side and you'll see me right there with hooves ready to carry your pains through every step."
Applejack could feel Rainbow's chest pounding hard through her own. A fuzzy feeling swept by her as she began to realize just how soft Rainbow's fur was and how smooth her feathers were.
Rainbow slowly, but gently broke off from the embrace, facing Applejack with radiant eyes full of hope. "Applejack," Rainbow called out softly.
"Yes, Dash?" Applejack asked, her face showing a hint of curiosity.
Rainbow brought her muzzle over to Applejack until they were only breaths away from each other, "I''m going to kiss you, very hard, right now. And I don't think I have it in me to stop myself."
Applejack opened her hooves and gave Rainbow an alluring smile, "you won't have to."
***
One lifetime later...
There was a small bench in the middle of an abandoned park where an old pony sat. On her cyan hooves was a small paper that her wife gave told her never to open until the day she passed away. She mentioned that the paper contained the very first dream that she had— rather, the only dream she ever had.
Just yesterday, her wife died in her arms, smiling at the many joys they had shared together. She was ready to follow her into the heavens in the flash of a rainbow, but decided that she could not go until she saw what kept her wife enduring the hardships of life.
Silence surrounded her and the park she was in. Only the rustling of leaves allowed sound to travel along the wind. The old pony was weak, and she felt her time was also coming very soon. Yet, it was at this moment that her heart felt the lightest. Every step, every flap of her once-strong wings she felt she could shake the world.
Many years had passed by, many dreams crushed, many renewed, but she blatantly admitted that she could remember none of those dreams. She could only remember the orange coat and yellow mane that never left her until the day she passed away. She was smiling on her deathbed, telling her to not feel sad that she was leaving, but to feel happy that she was there. The cyan pony chuckled a bit as she remembered her bawling like a foal the day before.
She now had one last mission, one last goal to do before she left this world to reunite with her wife. Sounds of paper being crumpled echoed as the winds brought them around, signalling the end of a long journey, and the start of a new beginning.
On the old brown paper was some very bad hoofwriting and a date that took place a few days after she had arrived at ponyville. She eyed the first— no, the last words of her lover and her wife.
Before she knew it, tears were streaming from her eyes. She knew she should stop, as the paper was getting wet and the ink would blur the silly handwriting, but she couldn't, nor did she want to. This was her wife's last gift to her, and one she would never forget. She would empty her tears now to show that she was done with this world and was ready to be with her wife.
She let the piece of paper fly in the wind, letting the gusts guide it somewhere safe. After all, it was that same mindset that set a new path in her life as well.
The old pony looked at the sky where the paper flew. You didn't fulfill you dream at all. She chuckled as she sensed her last breaths coming. Rather than fearing death, she invited it, hoping to be with her loved one forever.
Written on the piece of paper floating into the unknown were only two simple words:
Rainbow Dash
