Applejack arrived home from school in a dull daze. She moped over to the chair in her living room and sat down for a minute. It had only been a day since her time with Rainbow Dash, but it was still all could she think about. It consumed her thoughts, and everything that happened that day was a blur to her. The fact that the weekend had consumed so much of her thoughts had left her tired as well.

Applejack stared at the ceiling as the thoughts continued to intrude into her mind. It was a constant fight between two sides of her, the side the genuinely enjoyed the little time with Rainbow Dash. That part of her that felt joy when she shed all of her adult responsibilities and just sort of lost herself in the moment. The other part of her chastised her. She didn’t have time to play baby. She was an adult, she had adult responsibilities, and all of the good things that came with having those responsibilities. Why did she want to give up her maturity? Why did she enjoy it so much when she did? These thoughts were a good deal more tame then the ones she had that morning. Over the course of the day she began to understand that there wasn’t anything wrong with her mentally, and thus no longer held those self-deprecating thoughts, at least not as often.

There was a quick knock at the door before it abruptly open signaling Apple Bloom had entered the house.

“Hey there baby sister,” Apple Bloom said with a snide giggle.

“Who told you?” Applejack asked plainly.

“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom answered as she happily placed her backpack against the wall.

“Of course,” Applejack said with a sigh.

“So how did it feel?” Apple Bloom asked curiously laying her head on the arm rest of Applejack’s chair.

“How do you think?” Applejack answered quickly. The brief vague answer was all Applejack could give. If Applejack began describing the experience at all she was afraid she might give herself away.

“Kind of a weird request don’t you think?” Apple Bloom remarked as she made her way into the kitchen to make herself an afternoon snack.

“Yeah it was,” Applejack answered honestly.

“Seems like it would be a hassle for her,” Apple Bloom said faintly from the kitchen. “Creativity has never been Dash’s strong suit, though.”

“Hey, that wasn’t very nice,” Applejack chastised. There was an angry sigh from Apple Bloom. “We both agreed it was for the best if we didn’t talk about it, so you’re not getting anything out of either of us other than that it happened.”

“Well that’s no fun,” came Apple Bloom’s reply.

“It’s not nice to be nosy anyway.”

“Ugh you treat me like such a kid sometimes,” Apple Blooms said with a huff. “Between the two of us you’re the one who’s closer to being a baby,” Apple Bloom added as she began storming off to her room in a pre-teen rage, snack in hand. Applejack decided to let that last comment go to keep the peace. The conversation between the two sisters was cut off by a ding from Applejack's phone.

“Where u at?” was the innocuous text from Pinkie Pie, followed by several happy faces and pictures of cakes. Applejack shot up with a start quickly replying to the message as she left through the front door. She had lost track of the time in all of her moping and had missed the daily meeting of her friends at the local café. Thankfully she didn’t live that far from the café so she would be able to get their quickly, but there was no doubt that the lack of her presence would be noticed, especially considering the eventful weekend she had.

*****

“Applejack says she’s on her way,” Pinkie Pie declared to the group triumphantly. “She didn’t send any smiley faces with it though.”

“You usually send enough smiley faces for everyone Pinkie,” Sunset Shimmer answered plainly.

“Are you kidding the world can never have enough smiley faces.”

“What do you think’s taking her so long?” Rarity asked.

“She may just be tired,” Fluttershy offered. “Taking care of a little one can be tiring, must be just as tiring to be a little one.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Rainbow Dash said knowingly, though her own level of exhaustion seemed to back up at least part of Fluttershy’s claim.

“You didn’t scare her off did you?” Twilight asked with a bit of concern.

“No!” Rainbow Dash answered defensively.

“Well you’ve been really quiet about what happened?” Sunset added accusingly.

“That doesn’t mean I did anything bad to her!” Rainbow Dash argued angrily.

“I have to agree, she seemed fine when we left,” Rarity added. “She looked great in that dress I made for her.” Everyone gave a small groan at this comment.

Applejack arrived huffing tiredly, and made her way to the table where her friends were gathered.

“Well look who showed up,” Pinkie Pie said with a faked serious tone.

“Sorry I got caught up doing some work and lost track of time,” Applejack lied.

“We were worried Rainbow Dash might have done something,” Rarity said with concern.

“What?” Applejack asked shocked. “No, no nothing like that happened.”

“See!” Rainbow Dash said triumphantly. “Jeez you guys always expect the worst.”

“Apologies,” Sunset said still not entirely convinced.

“Yeah nothing happened really,” Applejack said getting flustered. “I guess I’m just a little tired.”

“Oh come one,” Pinkie Pie whined. “Rainbow Dash isn’t saying anything either, one of you has to tell us what happened.”

“No we don’t” Rainbow Dash countered grumpily. “Really nothing that much actually happened, and we both agreed to keep what did happen to ourselves.”

“That’s no fun,” Pinkie Pie grumbled. “And I didn’t even get to see you in your dress. You guys should’ve took pictures.”

“I wanted to,” Rarity sad sadly. “But Rainbow Dash was ready to bite our heads off.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Applejack said blushing.

“Yeah for you,” Pinkie Pie pouted. “We don’t get to have any fun.” Applejack sighed slightly annoyed.

“I’m just glad you guys are over this,” Twilight said plainly.

“Yeah I kinda am too,” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“Yeah it got crazy at the end there huh?” Applejack added with a laugh. When she and Rainbow Dash began laughing together the others felt safe joining in.

The group hung out for a little longer, most of them pressing either Applejack or Rainbow Dash for events of the past weekend, but both of them were tight lipped about the happenings. Eventually they all grew tired and headed home.

It took Applejack a while to get back home from the café. The spring in her step she had getting there was solely motivated by not being late, now that she wasn’t in any kind of hurry she moped more than walked back to her home.

Once she was home, she found herself again distracted by her own thoughts. She sighed in aggravation as she was becoming annoyed that she had been in her own head so much. Applejack decided to do some chores, hoping to distract herself from herself.

She began washing some dirty dishes in frustration. The thoughts she was having earlier were mixed newer more annoyed thoughts. A third voice echoed in her mind shouting at both the little voice and the adult voice to shut up for two seconds. Regardless of how much that third voice yelled and yelled it still seemed to be drowned out by the argument between the little voice and the big voice.

“You ok,” Came a shy voice from the living room. This voice was real and belonged to a tired Apple Bloom.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Applejack said shakily. “I was just doing the dishes to take my mind off of something.”

“Well you must have a lot on your mind because I’ve watched you clean that plate for 30 minutes.” Applejack dropped the plate into the sink in alarm.

“I guess it ain’t working,” Applejack said finally defeated.

“No it ain’t,” Apple Bloom said annoyed. Applejack drained the sink as Apple Bloom shuffled back to her room.

Applejack sat back down in her recliner determined. She couldn’t keep going like this, it was driving her insane. She had to sort it out, and sort it out now.

After several moments of deep introspection Applejack finally came to some conclusions. Mainly that her little weekend with Rainbow Dash had stirred something in her that she didn’t know was there. And while she could ignore it before, she couldn’t now. It was something that she knew eventually she would have to act on. In order to appease the adult in her, the one that wanted responsibilities and challenges, she had determined not to let it take over her life. It was something she could indulge, but not something that had to consume her.

Applejack felt confident in the conclusion that she reached, and it seemed to quiet her internal turmoil somewhat, though one lingering voice still remained stating quietly “What about Rainbow Dash?” That voice was quiet enough and Applejack was tired enough that it could be ignored. Applejack had already made plans in her head. Tomorrow it would be just her at the house, and she would have time to experiment by herself after school.

Author's Note

Here's another chapter for you guys. This is kind of a transition between two parts of the story. And i can confirm that Applejack is going to act on her feelings in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that. As always hope you guys enjoy.