Applejack sighed again as she gazed upon her friend's prone body. She had been sitting next to her hospital bed for days now, showing no sign of leaving. Sure, their other friends stopped by occasionally, but they all eventually left. Applejack, however, refused to leave.

All she could think about was Rainbow Dash. She barely spared a thought to anything else, especially herself. Truthfully, the only reason why she still ate and drank was because one of her friends or a nurse would sometimes bring her a little food. Applejack didn't like asking for help - never had - but nopony paid attention to her refusals.

Sometimes, when she was tired of thinking in circles, she would engage in one-sided conversations with the mare in front of her, imagining how she would respond if she were awake.

"Hey, Sugarcube?"

What's up, AJ?

"Ah- Ah miss ya."

Whaddya mean? I'm right here.

"Ah know that. But Ah still miss ya. 'Specially that laugh o' yers."

O-okay, somepony's sounding a bit like a lovesick filly.

Applejack chuckled. "So what if Ah am? Are ya complainin'?"

No! I just don't care for frou-frou, frilly feelings! That's more Rarity's style. It just seems so... uncool.

"That's fine. It don't matter to me what ya like an' don't like, so long as Ah'm in the 'like' section."

A small cough interrupted daydream-Rainbow's response. Applejack turned to see Twilight standing in the doorway. The blonde mare chucked nervously, running a hoof up and down the back of her neck. "Er, 'xactly how long were ya standin' there?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Long enough to know you need to take a break. I- we're all worried about you. You haven't left in days, you're barely eating, and you haven't taken a shower since that fight with Keres," she mentioned, wrinkling her nose slightly as she caught a whiff of her friend.

"Of course you would have a freaking list," Rainbow Dash groaned.

Twilight stuck her nose in the air, imitating Rarity. "Of course. I always have lists."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah bet ya even have lists about... lists..." She trailed off, her malnourished brain catching up to her.

Twilight seemed to have reached the same conclusion, her eyes rivaling the size of dinner plates. They stared at each other, both equally afraid that even moving might break the spell and reveal it was only an auditory hallucination.

"Um, you guys okay? I was expecting a more awesome reaction."

Well, it certainly sounded like Rainbow. There was the familiar raspy voice and the same vocabulary.

Applejack broke eye contact first, slowly turning to face the hospital bed. There, just like the past few days, was Rainbow Dash. The only difference was that now a pair of glazed, cerise eyes were open and slowly tracking the two mares.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Applejack couldn't help herself; she jumped up and grabbed the pale Pegasus in a tight embrace.

"A...J... air! Need - oof! - oxygen!" Rainbow gasped, attempting to squirm away from the unexpected tackle.

Applejack suddenly realized two things: Rainbow was still hurt from her time as Keres' captive and that she was currently crushing her. She jerked back as if struck by lightning and composed herself as Rainbow puffed beside her.

At this point, Twilight decided to dispel the awkwardness by approaching the hospital bed.

"It's good to see that you're finally awake! I'm sure the others will be excited to hear the news."

She had barely finished her sentence when a living ball of energy exploded from the door, shouting a single name:

"DASHIE!"

The pink incarnation of energy, more commonly known as Pinkie Pie, was jumping all over the place, babbling her mouth off. Rainbow Dash glanced over at Applejack and Twilight, giving a wry smile. "Nice knowing you guys."

Pinkie stopped abruptly - how on earth was she able to freeze in midair? - and bolted over to Rainbow's bedside. "I was just taking some cupcakes out of the oven - I love cupcakes; I haven't baked cupcakes in forever and a half! Did you know I put a secret ingredient in my cupcakes? It makes them all yummy! But I can't tell you what it is. Because then it wouldn't be a secret anymore..."

"PINKIE!"

"...when all of a sudden, my legs started wobbling, my nose scrunched, and my knee pinched. That means that one of my best friends is in the hospital, but waking up without a certain peppy pink party pony! Have you ever noticed that P alliterations sound the best? Listen: 'The pieces of the pie puzzle are plopping into place, but the picture isn't pretty!' See what I mean? Perfect!"

Twilight stepped forward. "As much as we love you and your alliterations, Pinkie, I think we should let Rainbow Dash rest. She did just wake up, and there'll be plenty of time to hang out later." She quickly ushered the hyper mare out of the room, closing the door behind both of them.

Applejack turned to leave when she hesitated. Those alluring magenta eyes. They were watching her; she could tell. She turned around, locking eyes with the pale pony.

"Need somethin', Sugarcube?" She asked, trying to hide her hope from showing in her voice. Seeing as how that was a form of lying, she was terrible at it.

"Could you stay with me, AJ?" Rainbow looked a bit embarrassed at the request, but she pushed through it.

"O' course Ah'll stay wit' ya," Applejack smiled, sitting at her usual spot beside Rainbow's bed.

The mare in question looked nervous, eyes flicking all around before coming to rest on her friend.

"I- I heard you..." She murmured in a quiet voice.

"Sorry, what was that, Fluttershy?" Applejack chuckled.

Rainbow glared, clearly not appreciating the humor.

The blonde mare cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed, considering who inflicted Dash's wounds. She gestured with a hoof for her friend to continue.

Rainbow gulped once and steeled herself. She met Applejack's eyes and blurted it out:

"I heard you!"

Applejack's eyes widened, immediately growing pale. She instantly thought back to her own declaration a few days prior.

"I heard everything."

Applejack was hyperventilating, unable to meet her friend's gaze. She didn't hear anything else that Rainbow said; she was too busy panicking. She backed up until she hit the door. The farmer blindly grasped the handle and fled.

Applejack thundered down the hallway, only thinking of getting away from the Pegasus in the hospital bed. Ever since Nurse Redheart told her that there was a possibility that Rainbow Dash heard her confession of love, she had been simultaneously hoping and dreading the moment when she woke up.

Just as she was in the middle of cursing herself, she crashed right into Twilight. She winced and helped her friend to her hooves.

"Sorry, Twi! Ah just-" She paused as her mind raced to find a good excuse. "-just needed to get back to work! Yeah, that's it. Ah know that Big Mac has been doin' a lot o' work, so Ah'm goin' over ta help 'im out. OkaynicetoseeyaTwilightbye!"

Applejack bolted out, leaving a dumbstruck Twilight in her wake

Applejack didn't stop running. She reached her farm in a matter of minutes. The orange blur practically flew up the stairs, into her room, and locked the door. She wedged a chair under the handle - for good measure - and drew the curtains. After she was satisfied that she was fully cut off from the outside world, she flopped down on her bed, still cursing her own impatience into the pillow.

"Why couldn't Ah've stopped mahself? Now she knows Ah'm a fillyfooler!" She spat that last, hated word. "Ah can't show mah face ta her for a while. 'Least until she forgets the whole thing."

At some point, somehow, she fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming about Rainbow Dash flying through the sky on magnificent wings.

Author's Note

So sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I lost my computer charging cord and, after it died in the middle of an assignment, I wasn't able to update the story. Thankfully, my new charger works as well as my old one, so I'm back in business!

As always, let me know how I can improve! Since this is my first story, I know there's room for improvement, so I always enjoy constructive criticism.