Zap Apple Pie

A trio of knocks on the dressing room door startled Rainbow.  Fluttershy placed a calming hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Please, come in,” Fluttershy said.

“She's cancelled…” Rainbow muttered with clenched eyes and ears low.  Fluttershy felt trembling beneath her hoof and pressed firmly, turning Rainbow’s body slightly.

“She would do no such thing.  Now, say hello to your daughter,” Fluttershy stated.  Rainbow turned quickly to see Scootaloo in a bridesmaids dresses.

“Heh. You look good in purple,” Rainbow said with moist eyes.

Scootaloo grinned. “It's mauve.  I'm glad you like it, the slip is Rainbow Dash blue, through.”

Rainbow sniffled and took the tissue Fluttershy had prepared, wiping her eyes. “You look amazing, Scoots.  You’re like a little,” she paused to swallow hard, “princess.”

“Oh, here we go again,” Scootaloo rolled her eyes as Rainbow turned to Fluttershy to cry softly. “So, is she ready to be married?”

Fluttershy turned to look at Scootaloo while consoling Rainbow. “Yes, she’s never been happier.”

Rainbow sobbed. “Yeah, it’s just the hormones.  I’m not really this sappy, honest!”

“I know, Mom.  I’ll be honest, you look nice in a tuxedo.  Maybe I’ll wear one when I marry the colt of my dreams.”

Rainbow wiped her nose on Fluttershy’s shoulder and stepped back.  As Fluttershy frowned and grumbled at her dress’ new color addition Rainbow looked at Scootaloo. “Scoots, no matter what happened or happens, I’m so glad you’re my daughter.  You’re as awesome as me, well… almost.

I am so lucky to have a fan and daughter as great as you.”

Scootaloo’s eyes began to water, but she blinked them clear and wiped her eyes quickly. “Mom, you’re the best.”  She opened her wings and flew the length distance to Rainbow and hugged her mom tightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Scootaloo.  Now, go get ready, I’ve got a wedding to do.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo responded with a final squeeze before she took a step back and looked Rainbow in the eyes.  She smiled and left the room, closing the door slowly.  “Girls, she’s awesome.  I told you she’d--” Scootaloo continued talking with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as they left.  Fluttershy went and closed the door softly.

“Let’s finish getting you ready,” Fluttershy said as she wiped her shoulder dry with a hankie.

***

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight called from outside the door to the dressing room, “it’s time.”

Rainbow trembled from head to hoof, front to back.  Fluttershy flew to the door and opened it once she landed. “We’re ready.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, exhaled, then began to walk out of the room.  The area was awash in conversations that fell silent when ponies saw her.  Rainbow looked around the area and felt her anxiety acting up.

“You can do this, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow looked to her left, to Fluttershy.  She nodded and took to a light hover and flew to the far side of the barn, to the raised platform that was decorated with clouds and flowers in an arch that was tall enough for Princess Celestia and Luna to stand side by side, their manes billowing in a nonexistent wind.

Rainbow Dash nodded to the Princesses, they returned the gesture, then a chime rang.  It rang again and began to play a soft tone.  Birds began to sing in harmony and as Fluttershy raised herself into the air before and all the ponies in attendance stood.  The birds began to sing a type of wedding march as Applejack walked past the fully open doors of the barn and came into view.

Rainbow felt her heart begin to race as she looked at Applejack.  The mare, wearing a new hat that matched her dress.  A rainbow colored train flowed from the white dress, but all Rainbow could see was the blush crossing Applejack’s freckled cheeks.  Rainbow Dash let a shuddering breath go and watched, trembling with anxiety, as Applejack approached.

Granny Smith tipped her hat to Rainbow and bowed her head to the Princesses when Applejack reached the platform, then cantered aside and took her spot, still standing.

“Mares and gentlecolts.  We are gathered here to honor the unity of these two ponies and guardians of Equestria.  Rainbow Dash and Applejack, I have been told you have your own vows to recite?” Princess Luna asked openly.  Celestia smiled and nodded her head to Rainbow.

Rainbow gulped and closed her eyes, imagining Applejack’s face in her mind’s eye. She calmed significantly and opened her eyes to see the mare of her dreams a leg’s length away.

Opening her eyes she looked at Applejack’s slight blush, her freckles stood out from the makeup and she glowed with radiant beauty that Rainbow hadn’t seen in what felt like ages.

“You’re the most beautiful pony in the world,” Rainbow whispered.  Applejack began to smile as they stared at each other.  “AJ.  I love you, and I never knew happiness before we were together.  All I knew was trying to be the best, and you made me the best.  You’re the last thing I want to see before I fall asleep, and the first when I wake up.

“You’re the one that I can be sappy with when the world is rough.  It’s you, Applejack, that gave me a purpose in life, even if it isn’t the Wonderbolts,” the crowd chuckled, “you’re more awesome than them. Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, and falling in love with you was beyond my control.”  Her voice cracked as she continued, “And, AJ, my Fritter… the mother of my foal, and the pony of my dreams… Every time I smile for no reason, it’s because I’m thinking of you.”

            Rainbow gulped and choked back a sob as she finished, watching Applejack blur from her tear filled eyes.

Applejack stood tall and sniffled, tugging her hat back a bit so she could show her entire face.  “Ya done, Dash?”  Rainbow nodded.  “Ah know I have a lot ta learn from ya still...  Yer a flyin’ showboat that never takes yer head outta the clouds, and Ah wouldn’t have ya any other way, Sugarcube.

“Every night when Ah hold ya against me, Ah listen as ya fall asleep and smell the sky in yer mane.  Ah feel yer heartbeat with mine, and I love you as much as I can so Ah know when I wake up, I know you’re all that Ah need to complete my day.  Whether Ah’m home from a rough day on the farm or sleepin’ late on a day off, yer what keeps me goin’.  Yer my farm, my chores…” she gulped and looked to Granny Smith.

With a nod from the elderly mare Applejack turned to Rainbow. “Yer my family, through ‘n through.  And, Ah reckon that… ya always were.  Rainbow Dash, if I could be anything in life, Ah’d be yer tears.”

She waited as Rainbow blinked her tear filled eyes in confusion and the crowd began to murmur. “Ah start in yer heart, move to live in yer eyes, caress yer cheeks fer as long as Ah could, and end mah life on yer lips.  If Ah could give you one gift, Rainbow, it’d be ta see yerself through my eyes.  Then, you’d know how amazing, beautiful, special, and awesome you are, no matter how ya feel about yerself.

“Ah give myself to you, Sugarplum.  For all the rest’a my days.  Ah Pinkie promise that Ah’ll love ya with all my heart, body, and spirit until a day after the end of my life, so ya know that Ah loved ya with all I had ta give, and then some.”

Not an eye was dry, from Princess to foal, in the barn as the two leaned in and kissed.

“I am pleased to present, to the ponies of Equestria, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”  With a flourish of their wings, Celestia and Luna looked to the mares with pride.

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