Chapters The path was steep and bumpy, but even if Applejack wasn't as spry as she had once been, she made light work of the climbs and dips, trotting sure-hoofedly over the familiar terrain as she toted her heavy saddlebags.
"You're sure you don't want me to take those?", asked Rainbow Dash, hovering alongside her. "Because I don't mind-"
"For the thousandth time, Dashie, ah'm fine. Keeps mah joints workin' like they should. Feels good, shakin' the rust off after too long in Canterlot."
"If you're so happy carrying heavy stuff, you could have carried me," said Rainbow, blowing a raspberry and earning a good-natured roll of Applejack's green eyes.
"There's heavy, and there's back-breakin' ," snorted Applejack, and Rainbow cuffed her around the head, knocking her hat askance.
"Oh yeah? Don't seem to recall you complaining before," smirked Rainbow, as Applejack, unable to come up with a quick comeback, settled for shaking her head and straightening her hat.
"You got a dirty mind, Miss Rainbow Dash," said Applejack, grinning.
"Uh, yeah I do," giggled Rainbow, in her hoarse, raspy half-laugh, and Applejack felt her knees going a little wobbly.
"Y'all be sure to keep that up when we get back to the cottage," smirked Applejack, steadying herself as she shifted the weight of the bags to hide her half-stumble. "But maybe stow it awhile first, until we're done sayin' our hellos to Big Mac and Sugar Belle and the foals?"
"Yes ma'am," said Rainbow, mock-saluting her marefriend. "You can count on me."
"To be civil around mah brother and his family? Or to be crude when we get on back up to our own place?"
"Both, duh!", snorted Rainbow, and Applejack rolled her eyes again.
The two ponies fell silent for a moment, Applejack continuing to walk along at a brisk pace, Rainbow slowly flying alongside, both occasionally half-secretly checking the other out admiringly, before pretending to look away whenever their eyes met. They'd been together for so long now, there were so many times like this when words were unnecessary, when they each could practically read the other's thoughts, when talking would only have been for talking's sake, as they simply enjoyed being close in each other's company.
This is what it's all about. This is what it was all for. This is why we fought.
"Ah gotta say," said AJ, finally breaking the silence as they rounded another bend and passed another stone marker, "ah didn't realize how much ah needed this. Sure, ah got used to the idea we'll never be finished gettin' called up for savin' Equestria one way or 'nother, but it sometimes gets to feelin' like the whole dang country might up an' collapse if we ain't around to go check things out an' tell ponies what to do."
"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, thoughtfully. "I know what you mean. I always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but I didn't know I'd still be fighting bad guys and fixing friendship problems by the time I got to... well, now ," she said, gesturing at the lines on her face, at her close-cropped, thinning mane.
She turned to Applejack, smiling as she looked right into her marefriend's eyes. "Although... I did kinda hope that whatever I was doing... I hoped we'd still be doing it together."
Another quiet moment passed, as Applejack debated whether this was a good time for a kiss.
It was always a good time for a kiss.
"Ah mean, don't get me wrong," said Applejack, fixing her mane and hefting the bags up onto her back again, as Rainbow straightened her feathers with a goofy smile. "Bein' told Equestria needs you... it ain't so bad t'hear it, an' even if we don't have to do a lot o' the actual fightin' an' fixin' so much these days, bein' sent on missions can be mighty tirin' in a lot of ways when ah just want to curl up by the fire and cuddle with mah darlin... but ah reckon you'd be like to get bored sooner or later if that was all we did. Ah, don't even deny it," she smirked, as Rainbow Dash drew herself up to retort, "it don't bother me none at all. Point of fact, it's one of the things ah like best about you. You ain't some songbird who's happy to sit in a cage and sing and preen your beautiful feathers" - this earned a blush from Rainbow, which Applejack pretended not to notice - "and ah reckon it'd be cruel to make you feel like you had to sit still. Ah don't think I could bear it. Ah know you couldn't."
"Yeah," said Rainbow, nodding. "But like I always say... it's okay for Scootaloo to put "Go Big or Go Home!" on the posters next to my face, sure, but you know I like to have my cake and eat it... And I want both! I just... sorry, you've heard this a thousand times, huh?"
"Ah surely have," grinned Applejack, "but ah never do seem to tire of it, so why don'tcha tell it to me again and we can call it number one thousand and one?"
"It's an awesome motto," said Rainbow, reciting from memory as Applejack nodded along to the familiar refrain, "but I always think, go big or go home? Why not go big, and then go home? Because I love to be awesome -"
"Really? Ah never knew that," smirked Applejack, on cue.
"- but I also love to come home," finished Rainbow, ignoring the expected interruption. "With you. To the house we built. The home we built."
"That's mah girl," said Applejack, nuzzling her face against Rainbow's mid-air shoulder.
The moment was rudely interrupted by a strange, unnatural noise, a whistling, whooshing, scraping sound that seemed to come from all directions at once, growing louder and louder, and Rainbow and Applejack shared a look; they both knew instantly what it was.
Applejack had learned from experience what that noise meant, watching her marefriend do her day job. Rainbow had known that sound all her life, ever since she was a little filly sitting too close to the edge of her parents' cloud to watch the squadron soar past, to feel the turbulence, to catch a sight of the gold flashes on those dashing blue uniforms as they swept through the Cloudsdale suburbs, to watch the wingtip flurries and the smoky contrails they left behind them as they scythed through the sky in their magic-laden aerodynamic suits with their magic-assisted low air resistance.
A Wonderbolt.
Applejack still hadn't quite perfected the knack of being able to pick out the sound and tell where it was coming from - very few non-pegasi could, although Rainbow always fluffed out her chest with pride when she boasted about how good Applejack was getting at finding her in the sky - but Rainbow instantly swiveled her head to watch the new arrival sweeping down to land, and after squinting for a moment at the apparently-empty sky, she pointed out the trajectory and landing spot to Applejack with her hoof.
"...It's Pickle," said Rainbow, and sure enough, a tiny dot appeared in the sky, getting larger and larger by the second until the silhouette of a pony was clearly visible, and Rainbow and Applejack grimaced as the air buffeted them in a wave. The sound of metal horseshoes scraping on dirt replaced the droning whistle for just a second, and then all was silent, and Pickle Barrel stood before them in a small cloud of dust, brushing the gravel from his hooves before stiffly saluting.
"Airpony First Class Pickle Barrel, ma'am," said Pickle, trying and failing to conceal that he was slightly out of breath.
"At ease, flyer," said Rainbow, automatically, returning Pickle's salute. "What's going on?"
"Urgent letter from the Captain," panted Pickle, "for you, uh, Captain. Said I had to deliver it to you personally. Said I'd find you at the station, but when I got there, they told me you and... uh..."
He paused, looking at Applejack and then back at Rainbow Dash, clearly unsure of how he should address a pony who was not only a hero of Equestria and Element of Harmony, but also the romantic partner of his Captain Emeritus, the greatest Wonderbolt of all time... And decidedly off duty right now.
"Y'all can just call me Applejack, same as always, Pickle," came the answer, helping the nervous airpony out of the tricky situation. "Captain here said 'at ease', y'all best know she meant it."
"Yes ma'am... uh... Applejack, " said Pickle, his voice wavering. Despite being a full member of the Wonderbolts, and a veteran with his Las Pegasus campaign medal ribbon on his suit to prove it, he still always reminded Applejack of the clumsy colt he'd been during their first meeting in Hope Hollow all those years ago.
"What's the issue, Pickle?", said Rainbow, and Pickle snapped back to the present.
"Something about the upcoming show, ma'am. The Captain has come up with another new routine, and she's having some problems getting the squad to get one of the moves right. Chief's been trying to teach us, but eventually she said, if even Flat- I mean, Fleetfoot - can't do it, maybe it's time to call Cra - uh... you. Ma'am."
Rainbow frowned, and took the proffered letter from Pickle's wing, scanning it over.
"Well, AJ... it looks like I'm gonna have to cut our break short," said Rainbow, unhappily, and Pickle Barrel subconsciously backed away.
"No, no, ah understand. When have I ever not understood, sugarcube? It's just... we've been plannin' this here trip for weeks now..."
"I know," said Rainbow Dash, gently beating her wings, gliding slowly along in mid-air next to her marefriend.
"...And then, they wait until right now to tell you you're needed? While we're almost close enough to smell the apple blossom on the breeze! Can't somepony else take it?"
"You know it doesn't work like that. If Scootaloo could fly, they'd probably never need my help at all. She's always had the best ideas, the best eye for new talent, the best coaching... We can't do without her. But sometimes, y'know, well... they can't do without me."
"Aw, I know," said Applejack. "Sure is tough to hear 'mah marefriend is so awesome, ain't nopony can do the job half as good as her' , and stay mad. You make me all warm an' fuzzy, knowin' you're mine."
"Forever," said Rainbow, nuzzling her, before pausing for a moment.
"...Penny for your thoughts?", asked Applejack, a hint of anxiety on her voice. Rainbow stared off into the distance for a moment more, and then shook her head.
"Nah, it's nothing," said Rainbow, all smiles once again. "I just... I can't believe I got called away at the very last minute like this. I'll always be loyal to the Bolts, but, y'know, it's tough when it's like this. I mean..."
She puffed out her cheeks and exhaled slowly.
"...I hate to let you down."
Rainbow took Applejack's hoof in her own, and locked eyes with her. "I was really looking forward to our vacation, AJ," she said.
"Ah know," said Applejack, smiling fondly, the hint of a blush appearing on her cheeks. "Y'all got no cause to give me them big maroon puppy dog eyes -"
"Magenta," muttered Rainbow Dash, and Applejack raised her eyebrow.
"Really? You're bailin' on our romantic getaway, an' you wanna pick now as the best time to go Rarity on me? They're pretty, is all. Does it matter what name y'all give that color, so long as I tell you it's mah very favorite?"
"No, ma'am," smirked Rainbow, and she caught the hint of a smile from Applejack, who cleared her throat before continuing.
"What ah was gonna say, was that ah understand. Ever since we got together, when have ah ever not understood? Ah get to be the very special somepony of none other than Rainbow Dash herself, 'Captain Ee-mer-i-tus of the Wonderbolts' as you insist on tellin' every creature that don't already know it, 'best Captain the Wonderbolts ever had' as ah call it, an' that means ah gotta accept there's some occasions when nopony but mah Rainbow Dash can get the job done. Even if it does mean you takin' a powder just when we're like to get down to some serious cuddlin' time. Comes with the territory, don't it? Ah'll always understand, mah darlin. Ah'll always be proud when you have to go do somethin' big, and ah'll always be here when you're ready to come home."
"Because you're the best," said Rainbow, cuddling up again as they reached the bottom of the hill, the path winding around behind a helpfully-placed grove of trees. Applejack took the opportunity to pull Rainbow over to the side of the road, beneath the boughs, away from any prying eyes ahead or above, and placed a hoof on her marefriend's shoulder as she once again looked into her eyes.
"Ya know I'll wait up for you, sugarcube. Ain't no use in tellin' me ah mustn't, now. I'll keep your spot on the couch right next to me, by the fire. Just in case you get off early or somethin'."
"Like you'd ever take my spot. It took a long time to make that groove! It fits me just right." Rainbow gave a wicked grin as she flapped her wings and lifted herself up off the ground again. "Like somepony else I could mention."
"Such sweet romantic stuff," smirked Applejack, nudging Rainbow with her hoof and causing her to wobble in mid-air. "Ah'm so lucky."
"Oh, shut up."
"Oh, yes indeed, ah'm the luckiest gal in Ponyville, to have found me such a romantic, poetic soul for mah mate! 'Oh, don't sit on mah cushions, they're shaped just right to fit mah rump.' 'Oh, shut up.' Why, ah feel like the heroine in one of them romance novels... the ones that ah keep findin' hidden behind other books? Y'know, the ones you keep insistin' ain't yours?"
"...I'll miss you too, AJ," said Rainbow, sticking her tongue out as she hovered along next to her marefriend.
"Ah know," said Applejack, and pulled Rainbow down again for a kiss. "You just... you go on up there and make me proud now, like you always do."
Rainbow visibly reddened, and pretended to look up at the clouds, rubbing the back of her head with a wing... still trying, after so many years, to hide her blushes from the one mare who never minded seeing them.
"Go on now. And ah meant it about savin' you a place, if'n you can finish up early and come back to mah side where you belong."
"Aw, c'mon. I don't like to promise things I can't deliver, AJ. You taught me that."
"Ah sure did. But it won't stop me hopin' all the same."
Applejack leaned in for one final goodbye kiss, and then whispered in Dash's ear:
"...And you know ah'm gonna make it worth your while."
Flustered, Rainbow Dash's eyes momentarily went wide, her wings suddenly springing out unfurled and erect with an audible pomf! She hammered a quick high-speed peck against Applejack's cheek, before blasting off in a dusty, multicolored blur.
"...Y'all hurry back, now," whispered Applejack to the cloud of dust, as she turned back to the path and trotted over the crest of the hill.
"Well now," she muttered to herself, proudly, "that really is mighty fine indeed."
She took in the sight below her as she surveyed Sweet Apple Acres and the surrounding countryside, laid out beneath her as if on a tablecloth. Nothing but the sky, and the earth, and the life her family had carved out between the two over the generations. She took in the lush green hills, the familiar old farmstead, the brightly-painted, newly-rebuilt barns, the densely-planted orchards... and then, far in the distance, the little hillock that hid the home she and Rainbow had built for themselves.
Sometimes, if you waited for the sun to catch it just right, you could see the straw of their cottage's thatched roof, shining in the light as if they'd spun it from pure gold. No enchantments, no special magical straw, just hard work... and sore backs, and hot baths and massages, and lots of fun afterwards... the kind of things she'd hoped to be getting up to this week, before the Wonderbolts messed up their plans.
Applejack scowled for a moment, before relaxing and reminding herself just how good their lives were now. The sun wasn't in quite the right place yet, so she couldn't see the cottage - but knowing it was there, and that she was close, made her feel warm inside all the same.
"Home sweet... wait, what in the HAY? "
There below her in the distance, behind their hill, next to her parents' special tree, right where her cottage should be, was a massive red-and-white striped tent.
Author's Note
Without the very last line, this chapter kind of feels like an entire complete "typical Cloptimist story" in itself to me. But wait! There's more! With dinosaurs, and booze!
"And we'll need the unicorns to do their soundings... here , and also here . Make sure you specify these exact depths, from the chart. Nopony breaks ground until I tell them to, in my physical presence. Got all that?"
"Yes, Professor," said the student, nodding and backing away. Making his way out of the kitchen, he almost bumped into Sugar Belle, who caught a mug of steaming coffee with her magic just in time to stop it breaking on the floor.
"Sorry, miss," the student called out as he trotted out into the barnyard, without turning to look behind him.
"Is this going to take a long time?", asked Sugar Belle, setting the coffee down on the one part of the kitchen table that wasn't covered in charts and papers.
Petunia Paleo looked up, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I don't know," she said, matter-of-factly, before turning back to her map of Sweet Apple Acres. "It depends what we've found."
"But what do you think you've found?", asked Sugar Belle, gently. "I mean... it must be something pretty important, for you to have put that great big tent up already."
"We haven't gone public with it, and we're sorta trying to keep it under wraps - ha, under wraps , get it? Like, how everything's under that tent right now!", said Petunia, chortling at her own joke.
Sugar Belle blinked.
"...Anyway ", continued Petunia, after an awkwardly long silence, "if I'm right - and I think I am - what we're looking at are the fossilized remains of a complete specimen of Diplodocus. Which would make this the first time a complete skeleton of this particular species has ever been found, anywhere in Equestria!"
Sugar Belle cocked her head. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm just having a hard time understanding. A skeleton?"
"A dinosaur skeleton!", beamed Petunia, picking up the mug between her hooves and taking a huge gulp of coffee. "A complete dinosaur skeleton! From Twilight knows how many moons ago! Completely untouched by pony hooves... Untouched, that is, until now!"
Petunia stood there in the kitchen, eyes closed, hooves outstretched, as if she was basking in the stomped applause of some imaginary symposium.
Somewhere in the distance, a baby cried. Sugar Belle blinked at her decidedly odd guest for a moment, before making to turn and see what her foal needed. She was weighing up whether to say anything, or just silently leave the palaeontology pony in her kitchen, when a sweetly piercing drawl cut through the air and snapped Petunia out of her reverie.
"Hey, watch yerself there, would ya? You're spillin' yer coffee on the floor," said Apple Bloom, looking around her in some confusion at the piles of maps and sketches of bones littering the room. "Uh, Sugar Belle, would ah be out of line if'n ah were to ask what in the hay is goin' on? There's a real big tent over by Applejack and Rainbow's cottage, and a whole bunch of ponies ah ain't never seen before in mah life, trampin' up an' down the path with shovels and such."
"Well," said Sugar Belle, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof, "I need to go and see to the baby, so this seems as good a time as any to hand you over to each other. Professor? This is Apple Bloom, my sister in law, one third owner of Sweet Apple Acres, and a professor herself -"
"Oh?" asked Petunia, her ears literally perking up at the word.
"Oh yes," said Sugar Belle, "a professor of potions and botany at the School of Friendship. I'm sure you two can find plenty to talk about! And Apple Bloom, this is Professor..."
"Petunia Paleo!", beamed Apple Bloom, as she grabbed the startled Petunia's hoof for a hearty shake. "Ah know you, right? You were just a little filly, and your folks called me an' mah Crusaders to try and figure out what your cutie mark meant. They were worried you were gonna be a pirate, as ah recall!"
Petunia and Apple Bloom shared a giggle, as Sugar Belle smiled and backed out of the room to leave them to it.
"That's right," grinned Petunia. "That was the day I uncovered my first dinosaur, right there in the garden. Iguanodon , most likely, only a partial specimen but definitely a bipedal hypsilophodontid..."
She trailed off, realising she'd lost Apple Bloom.
"I, uh, still have that first bone on my desk at the museum," said Petunia, a little sheepishly. "It's nice to see you again, Apple Bloom."
"Mah pleasure... but ah still don't get what's goin' on. Why are you in mah sister in law's kitchen? And what's with all the shovels? And that tent? "
"Well," began Petunia, excitedly, but before she could continue, she was frightened by a yell from the corridor -
" DINOSAUR BONES?! WHAT IN TARNATION?"
followed by a renewed burst of crying baby noises, followed by the sound of hooves, one set trotting off towards the baby, one set marching right towards...
"You the professor? The pony who had 'em go and put that there tent right over mah cottage?", barked Applejack, crossly, as she stomped into the room, steam still rising from her flanks after the gallop downhill, snorting and flaring her nostrils as she drew herself up to her full height, still as imposing as any Apple matriarch despite her advancing years. Petunia gave a squeak of fright and instinctively backed away, before Apple Bloom stepped forward and placed herself between the two ponies.
"Applejack, this is Professor Petunia Paleo," said Apple Bloom, fixing her big sister with a stare, "who is a guest in our home" - the word made Applejack immediately stand down with a blush of embarrassment - "and who was just about to do some explainin'. Ain't that right Professor?"
"Hm? Oh! Oh yes! It's quite remarkable, really. Remarkable! It's possibly the single most important scientific discovery of the last fifteen years, and it's right here, quite literally outside your door," blurted Petunia, before she realised Applejack wasn't sharing her enthusiasm. "It's incredibly rare to find even a partial Diplodocus skeleton in situ, and now suddenly it turns out that Sweet Apple Acres might very well have the first complete, perfectly preserved specimen ever to be discovered in all of Equestria! Isn't it amazing? "
Applejack, who cared nothing for dinosaurs, and who considered it mightily rude that this Diplodocus character had seen fit to drop dead right in front of the window where she loved to sit with Dash and watch the leaves fall from the trees, had to grudgingly admit to herself that, yes, it could maybe be argued it was indeed kind of impressive. Especially if it was another thing that underlined how the Apples were the best at everything.
"Okay," said Applejack, thoughtfully, picking a stalk of buckwheat out from a stoneware jar and chewing it slowly, suppressing a smile over her pride in their farmstead's newly-acquired palaeontological significance. "But why in the cotton-pickin' wide world of ponykind is there a huge tent coverin' mah house? What's that got to do with yer Dipadolcus bones?"
"Diplodocus-", began Petunia, but Applejack shushed her with a wave of her hoof.
"Ah ain't done talkin'. From the top of the hill ah thought Flim and Flam had come back to haunt us! Gave me a powerful fright, 'till ah saw it weren't no circus big top."
"Flim and...?" began Petunia.
"Long story. Don't worry about it," said Apple Bloom.
"This is where I was up to when you came in, Apple Bloom," said Sugar Belle, walking back into the kitchen, sleeping foal swaddled in a papoose. Applejack smiled at her sister in law and her tiny niece, and tipped her hat.
"Sorry for gettin' a mite wound tight there, Shug," said Applejack. "Ah didn't mean to raise a ruckus like that. Ah just weren't prepared for none of... this."
Sugar Belle stood alongside Applejack and gently nuzzled her before continuing. "The Professor was telling me earlier that there's a law - a new law, one that Princess Twilight Sparkle herself wrote?"
"That's right," nodded Petunia. "The Princess is a great supporter of science and natural history, and she made a decree that wherever and whenever any significant historical, archaeological or palaeontological discovery is made in Equestria, then every effort should be made to ensure that it's kept safe from harm or damage until it can be catalogued or moved. And this particular specimen is in a part of your land with very high hoof traffic. We applied to the Royal Palace for permission to erect that tent as soon as possible, and we headed out here the minute we got the signed permit."
"Twilight musta not known this was happenin' here ," said Applejack.
"I've no wish to be an ungrateful guest on your land," said Petunia, "and I'm sure you could write to the Princess to clear things up, but as things stand I'm afraid for the next few weeks, this permit means we have full legal power to do what we need to do, in order to ensure..."
"Ah don't need to write to the Princess!", barked Applejack, snorting heavily. "Princess Twilight and I go way back, ya hear? There's no way she agreed to..."
Applejack looked at the scroll Petunia held in her mouth.
"...agreed to..."
Applejack looked at the unmistakeable purple star cutie mark embossed on the scroll.
"...to..."
Applejack looked at the ornate flourish of a signature at the foot of the document.
Her Celestial Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle
"...Huh," drawled Applejack, slowly.
An uncomfortably long silence descended upon the kitchen, softened only by the sound of Applejack thoughtfully chewing on her stalk of wheat.
"Talk to the Princess, huh?", she finally exclaimed, making everypony in the room flinch, as Petunia nodded nervously.
"Well, then, Miss Petunia Paleo... Ah reckon ah might go an' do just that."
Applejack spat her wheat stalk into the trash can.
"AB? Shug? Ah guess ah'm goin' back to Canterlot."
"But, Applejack..." protested Sugar Belle, only for Applejack to quiet her with a wave of her hoof.
"Apple Bloom can look after our guests for the time bein', while you go an' see to your young'ins," drawled Applejack, straightening her hat. "Now then, Miss Petunia - Miss Paleo? Professor? - well, ah'm gonna leave y'all in the capable hooves of mah lil' sister here. Ah trust ah can rely on y'all not to cause too much of a ruckus while mah sister-in-law here is helpin' her foal to sleep an' all, but if'n y'all should need somethin' - a nice hot drink, or blankets, or whatever - well, AB, ah'm relyin' on you to keep Miss Petunia and her, uh, dinosaur-diggin' friends taken care of while ah go sort out this whole mess."
"Yes, ma'am," nodded Apple Bloom, firmly.
"And speakin' of mess," said Applejack, fixing Petunia with a frown, "by the time ah get back, ah want to see these here coffee stains an' hoofprints gone from this floor. Y'all saw fit to put up that big ol' tent to stop anypony walkin' over your Dip-lo-do-cus there. Ah would ask y'all kindly to extend that same courtesy to mah family while y'all are guests in their home. We do not track mud indoors with our dirty hooves in the Apple house."
Petunia Paleo looked for a moment as if she was going to respond with an indignant snort, but instead she simply nodded and looked sheepishly down at her dusty, mud-spattered hooves.
Applejack turned tail and strode out of the room, tipping her hat as she headed out towards the path to town. "Y'all make yourselves real comfortable while you're here, now," she called back over her shoulder. "But don't go gettin' too settled, you hear? Ah have a feelin' y'all won't be stayin' very long."
Sugar Belle looked at Apple Bloom, and then at the stunned professor, and then back at Apple Bloom, before half-whispering to her sister in law.
"...I thought she was bringing Rainbow Dash with her?"
Applejack Writes a Letter
My very dearest sugarcube
I can't believe it. Twilight really let me down, and I want to cry about it, and the one pony I could really do with by my side right now is off with the Wonderbolts, doin your Wonderbolts stuff, and...
And I miss you, Dashie, I miss you a whole lot.
Yeah yeah I can just see you laughin now. I guess if you open this in front of your squad or Scootaloo I'm gonna look pretty silly huh, the big tough farm pony wantin a cuddle with her Dashie, just a cuddle to make everythin better again and you always know just what to say don't you, the right thing to say whenever you need to let me know its all gonna be OK, your silly earth pony who adores you and wants nothin more than to kiss and cuddle and have feathers tickle my muzzle when we're drinkin cider by the fire after a long day in the fields and yeah I know it's faster you lookin out from the sky, best farmin pegasus there ever was and I never denied it.
Ive been drinkin a little bit so maybe its the liquor talkin but today really got me down, Dash, and I know I shouldnt take it so personal like and I know PRINCESS Twily has her big important job and all but dang it.
You know I cant stay in your place when you aint there Dashie, all them pegasus pegasi flyin around and me not knowin what clouds I can step on and what clouds are like to send me plummetin to the ground again, like remember that time with Spitfire, not that you ever let her forget, you should tell that story again next time she comes to check on how her old squad is doin with the BEST FLYER IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA still helpin out pretty much runnin things!! You cant see it but I'm smilin so much right now. I'm so proud of you. My Dashie. Mine.
But your place gets so lonely when I'm stuck in there and havin to wait for a chariot or somethin whenever I want to go to the store and I cant walk down the street else I'm like to fall to my death, and so with you off doin your churiocoreo stunt flyin school things I came back to the farm for the week but I couldnt get in our cottage on account of the tent I spoke of in my last letter and I couldnt stay in my old room on account of how Sugar Belle and Big Mac had their selves another foal and I'm happy to help out with all the baby chores, you know how much I love foals no I aint havin THAT conversation again dont worry, I just mean I'm happy for the two of em but they dont need me crashin on their couch and gettin under their hooves and I was really looking forward to spendin some time in our lil cottage but now theres these dinosaur ponies, not dinosaur ponies, ponies that like diggin up dinosaur bones, I'm sorry you already know all of this and I'm kinda drunk but I miss my darlin and you aint here.
Are the others readin this over your shoulders? You can show em, I don't even care, everypony knows how much I love my Dashie.
You never said how long you need to be up there and so I'm hopin you can still come for a visit even if it aint the cottage you could come see me here in Starlights castle yeah I know not to get my hopes up and I know its silly but buck it Dashie I'm gonna leave the window open just in case and maybe when I wake up my sugar cube is snorin on the pillow next to me. And don't you deny it you know you snore like a rattle snake tryin to eat an apple grinder and you know I wouldnt have it any other way just so long as I get to wake up by your side always.
I wish you were here.
Your one and only Applejack
Applejack blearily finished scratching her name at the bottom of the scroll, before letting the quill drop from her aching mouth, and trying to roll up the letter with her hooves.
"...Are you done now?", asked Spike, with a raised eyebrow.
"Whuh?" said Applejack, swaying in her throne, holding the map table for balance.
"You asked me to wait up with you while you wrote another letter, and then you spent fifteen minutes crossing things out and cussing to yourself in between drinks of cider."
"It ain't cider , Spike. This here is rye whiskey. Ain't you learned the difference by now? Maybe we need to set up another night of drinkin' down on the farm..."
"It smells like apples," said Spike.
"Ah didn't say it don't got apples in it," retorted Applejack, taking another swig and setting the bottle back on the map table, where she promptly knocked it over.
"...Right," said Spike, raising an eyebrow. "So, is this one ready to send?"
"Sure as shhhh..." (hiccup!) "...sugar," drawled Applejack, rearing up and shoving the screwed-up scroll into his hands. "You just make sure that gets to mah Dashie, now, Spike? You go on an' do that for me, yeah? She's at the Wonderbolts... place. With the Wonderbolts."
"Here, let me..." said Spike, unrolling the scroll and rolling it back up properly, before holding it up and searing it with a blast of green flame. The letter disappeared in an instant, and Applejack grinned up at the muscular dragon.
"You always were a good boy, Spike," said Applejack. "Even if'n you did get mighty big. We can get to reminiscin' again in the mornin' if you like. But... ah think I'd best be headin' off to bed, or Starlight will wonder what we're still doin' up in her hall."
"You're sure? You don't want to write Rainbow any more letters? And you know I could write them for you if you're, uh... having trouble. Just like old times. Or something like that."
"Nope! Ah'm good," grinned Applejack, as she climbed down from her old throne and turned to leave.
"Do you need a hand finding your way?", asked Spike, slightly concerned, as he watched Applejack hobble unsteadily for a moment before straightening herself up.
"Nah," said Applejack, with a smile. "Ah may not be able to handle mah liquor quite so much as I was once upon a time, but ah still remember this place like the back of my hoof."
Applejack trotted off in a mazy path down the corridor, muttering to herself as she went.
"Diplodocus . Pah. Better be the best an' greatest danged diplodocus anypony ever did see, ah'm tellin' y'all right now. Movin' me outta mah bed, and denyin' me a night in the arms of mah darlin', for which ah shall not be receivin' no adequate recompense. Diplodocus. Did ya ever...?"
It was, apparently, the biggest tent that had ever been erected in all of Equestria. It was huge , so huge that the word "tent" hardly seemed to be a fair description at all; the canopy was so high that it comfortably enveloped whole trees and even a small cottage under its red-and-white striped sky, and it was so wide that, if somepony started out next to one wall, it would take a couple of minutes to reach the opposite side. And that was without having to trot around the huge, shallow crater that had been dug right in the middle.
Petunia Paleo wiped her forehead on her sleeve, being careful not to disturb the tiny blade clutched in her teeth as she delicately chipped away the dirt around the bone.
"She's amazing," whispered the intern, watching with bated breath from the other side of the crater, as the dirt gradually fell away to reveal the smooth, pristine surface.
"Best in Equestria," replied Professor Fossil, leaning forward on her cane, rapt with attention. "There's literally nopony I'd trust ahead of her. Wish I could still get her to come out on my digs, but she left me in the dust years ago. Still, I've never seen anypony with such talent... When she invited me to come along, even though this isn't my area, well, just the chance to see her in the field again... Look at that! Celestia take me, it's like she's sandblasted the dirt right off that bone, quicker than a manticore on a chicken wing... And I'll bet you she hasn't left even one tiny scratch."
As they watched, Petunia paused for a moment, and sat back on her haunches, putting the blade back in her tool roll before gesturing to one of the unicorns sat around her.
"She devised this technique, you know," said Professor Fossil, watching the inaudible discussion as the intern nodded enthusiastically. "Have a pair of unicorns, one of them runs the spell to scan the dirt and let Professor Paleo know exactly where she needs to dig, and how hard, and in what direction all the dirt and stone is packed, so the forces at work don't cause damage. And then the specially trained earth pony digs in exactly the right place. Better and more precise than any spell, if you know what you're doing."
Petunia waved the second unicorn over, and said something they couldn't hear, accompanied by lots of furrowing of brows and waving of hooves. The unicorn bowed her head and closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow a bright golden yellow, and after a moment, a picture of the bone appeared in mid-air, spinning slowly as Petunia studied it intently, picked out in three-dimensional glowing yellow magical light inside a transparent representation of the surrounding rock.
Petunia stared at the rotating image for a moment more, and then nodded to the unicorn, who shut off the spell. She leaned down to her tool roll and picked out a tiny trowel with her teeth, and wasted no time in bending back down to her work, plunging the blade into the earth and then manipulating the trowel with astonishing speed and dexterity, her muzzle almost a blur as the soil seemingly melted away.
She sat up and wiped her brow again. "Caudal vertebra number 74, exposed anterior, clear," she called out, triumphantly, "extract and pack! Jackets at the ready! Brush, get over here!"
The intern snapped to attention, grabbing her sheaf of notes. "That's my cue," she said, as she hurried off, and Professor Fossil nodded.
The old professor watched as the intern made her way around the edge of the crater to the other side, where she engaged in an animated conversation with Petunia, who was gesturing and pointing out more half-exposed bones. Even though Professor Fossil's area of expertise was archaeology rather than palaeontology, she could tell the dig was going very well, and proceeding very quickly. Partly, she could deduce this from the sheer amount of bones that had already been painstakingly dug from the ground and carefully packed and sent back to Canterlot, and partly because...
There was another bright yellow gleam from the other side of the crater, this time much larger than before, and an audible gasp went up from all the ponies watching.
A glowing hologram of a life-size diplodocus skeleton, three-quarters complete, made of magical light, appeared above the dig site. Professor Fossil smiled to herself as the new bone appeared alongside the massive image and then flew into position, flashing blue and yellow as it slotted itself into place to further build the skeleton. The intern stared for a moment, and then shook her head, as if coming to her senses despite the enormous glowing dinosaur standing in mid-air in front of her. She quickly scribbled something on her pad before the spell ended, the dim light inside the tent seeming even dimmer now that the magical glow was gone.
Applejack had had to grow up fast, and it hadn't been easy, but she always tried her best not to begrudge those who hadn't had to suffer the things she'd suffered in her life. Still, she mused, as she stared out of the guest bedroom window high in Starlight's castle tower, perhaps she'd had to learn patience, too.
Granny Smith had taught her patience, for sure. Actually taught it to her, sat her down and explained why she mustn't overwater the crops, why she had to wait for a seedling to grow before pulling it up, why she had to miss school to help with the harvest... why she and her brother had to work to save the farm, because there was nopony else was gonna do it , but why it would be worth it.
Her brother, well, that had taught her some patience, too. Having nopony except him to talk to for hours on end had been enough of a chore when he wouldn't shut up talking, but once he became withdrawn and quiet and barely said more than a word at a time, it had been so much harder. It had taken a lot of frustration, for both of them, and some teenaged shouting fits before she'd come to accept that her brother was still in there, still thinking as deeply about things as ever, and that he just needed some patient coaxing to reveal his feelings.
And then her sister, well... that had needed patience, too. Not just because she was likely to burn the farm to the ground or fall down a hole if Applejack left her unsupervised for ten minutes. Not just because her attempts to get her cutie mark had inevitably ended in failure, needing Applejack to console her and explain how it all worked, night after night after night. But mostly, well...
Applejack sighed, wincing a little.
...mostly because Apple Bloom had had the childhood Applejack never had, and yet she'd never seemed to understand what an amazing opportunity that was. And Applejack had had to bite her tongue and never call her out for it, because that was the whole point of working so hard to give her a better life, better than she and Big Mac and Granny Smith had had, and one sour or spiteful word could have undone everything. And Apple Bloom had grown up happy and loved and protected, and it had all been worth it, but Celestia dang it , that had been one big long lesson in patience.
Perhaps, she thought to herself, she'd even started to seek out situations that called for her to show that patience. Perhaps she reveled in it a bit too much for her own good.
Perhaps she was making excuses for pegasi who promised you a week of cuddles and kisses by the fireplace, and all the good stuff that comes with those things, and then up and disappeared on you for the whole of that week, and then another whole week after that, and left you all alone.
Rainbow Dash was infurating, she thought. There was no two ways about that. Stubborn, proud, always eager to commit to some dumbass idea that happened to have flitted through her feathery brain that morning, always pushing the limits, trying out the impossible, coming home with bruises and scars and sore everything and needing Applejack's tender loving care before zooming off to the next stupid thing.
And Applejack was always waiting for her. Every time, without fail, waiting faithfully for her Dashie to come back to her.
Just like today. And yesterday. And a week ago. And two weeks ago. And now here she was, about a hundred letters later, after a bunch of tears, and a whole lot of Starlight's coffee, and her own... beverages.
And still no Rainbow Dash.
She snorted to herself, straightening her kerchief around her neck, realizing she'd been chewing the braids of her now-dampened mane. She looked out at Ponyville, spread beneath her, the little ponies far below attending to their daily chores, meeting and chatting and feeling happy and loved and protected, knowing that they were being watched over. Quite literally , thought Applejack, and allowed herself a smile.
If she'd chosen a guest bedroom on the other side of the tower, she'd have been able to see Sweet Apple Acres from her window. The lush green orchards she knew like the back of her hoof, the beautiful trees stretching into the distance, the familiar warm red-painted wooden walls of the barns... it was usually a sight that would warm her heart. She felt as though she could hear the chickens, smell the soil, taste the apple blossom on the air... even if she knew she was too far away for any of it to be real, she still always felt like she was close to home. When Rainbow Dash had asked if they could live together, there hadn't been a lot of talk as to where they'd settle down. There had only ever been one choice, and so it was. Their home - their true home.
Applejack smiled again for a moment, and then frowned as she went over what she'd just thought about in her mind.
"Where they'd settle down."
But they weren't settled down. Even now, even with her hip, even after all her years giving everything she had for everypony else and giving her heart over wholly to Rainbow Dash, here she was. Looking out of a castle window, alone.
This time, she'd chosen a room with a window facing the other way. She hated the sight of that massive striped tent, bright and garish and horrible, a pockmark on the landscape, an all-too-visible reminder of how she wasn't in her cottage right now, an unwelcome thought which felt like a knife to her ribs every time it reared its ugly head.
The castle was bad enough by itself, because every time she even so much as stepped on the crystal floors, the feeling under her hooves and the sound echoing from the walls called her back to another time, so many years before, a time when she could head through those very same doors at the end of the corridor and talk to Twilight... talk about some villain threatening Equestria, talk about some experiment she could pretend she understood, talk about the farm, about family, about nothing. Maybe there'd be an emergency, a meeting at the map table, a chance to steal secret glances at... certain ponies , despite knowing they'd never feel the way she did.
Or maybe she'd imagine a different time, less far away in the past, once she'd discovered that those certain ponies actually did feel that way, and she had the memories to prove it...
Applejack shook her head, and looked out at nothing in particular, and again noted the lack of Sweet Apple Acres in her field of vision. Everything was strange now. Twilight had betrayed her... no, too cruel. Twilight had let her down. Rainbow had let her down. Fluttershy and Pinkie were away doing their own family things. Spike had gone home, Starlight was busy with the school, and she was stuck up here, not being able to stomach looking out of a window because of a great big stupid tent.
Even if the tent had been invisible - Applejack briefly wondered if Starlight knew how to do that, before marshalling her thoughts - well, she still found it hard to go to Sweet Apple Acres at all right now, even to visit with her family, fuss over the foal, offer a helping hoof with the chores for old times' sake. It was too hard, knowing she couldn't head on up to her own place at the end of the day, get away from the world.
And still she could have coped with it, if only her Dashie had been by her side.
But her Dashie wasn't by her side. And she wasn't answering her letters, or at least not quick enough any more, some lame excuse about not having a dragon or a unicorn with the mail spell and having to wait for the mailpony and being stuck at the compound because the Wonderbolts were all sworn to secrecy about this latest stunt and it wouldn't be fair to everypony else and blah blah blah , a whole lot of excuses and fancy words to avoid saying when she'd be coming home.
"Come on home, Dashie," said Applejack, surprising herself when she realised she'd said it out loud, and then looking up at the clouds.
"...Come on home," she said, louder, more forcefully. "Ah need you, sugarcube. Where are you?"
"Another great day, team," said Petunia, looking at the sketch pinned up against the wall of the tent, her life's greatest achievement. The intern had done a great job, the dinosaur's long, skeletal whip of a tail slowly giving way to muscle and tendons and flesh and scales, culminating with a flourish, a fully-formed head, a long-dead face alive again, staring out from the paper with doleful eyes. "We'll leave it for tonight, I think, and start up again in the morning. And... well done, everypony."
The tent quickly cleared, a chorus of "yes ma'am" and "sure, Professor" giving way to murmurs and laughs and the sound of hoofbeats and the noise of ponies tidying up equipment. Within what seemed like a few seconds, the tent was almost deserted. The only ponies left were Petunia, still looking at the drawing, lost in her thoughts, and the intern, who held back, waiting for an opportunity to speak which never came.
The intern didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that, standing in complete silence, the sun long since lowered, its light no longer shining through the fabric of the tent. Eventually, the intern decided to make her move, taking a deep breath and walking into the light of the single remaining lamp. Her shadow reared large over the drawing, and Petunia started as she snapped out of her thoughts.
"Um... Professor?", asked the intern, timidly.
"Yes, Brush, what is it?"
"I have a question. A-about the dig."
"Sure," said Petunia, kindly. For all her intimidating air, her reputation for brilliance, the professor always tried her best to remain approachable, remembering how she herself had felt on her first real dig, terrified to interrupt. "What's on your mind?"
"Well... it seems like it's all going to plan... I mean, of course it's all going to plan, you planned it!", said the intern, not sure whether to laugh at her own attempted joke. "But we're exactly on schedule. And so, um, well, I was just kind of, you know, wondering, well... I mean, I thought I should say... If you don't think I'm rude for asking, that is, uh..."
Petunia gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "What's the matter, Brush?"
"We've got the tent for another week, but we're almost done...", blurted the intern. "And it's so big! I mean, this thing seems bigger than we need it to be... It covers the cottage over there, but our dig... it doesn't really go near the path at all. It just kind of feels like..."
The intern tailed off, but Petunia nodded and picked up her train of thought. "...Like this is too much? Like we have the site for longer than we need, and we've put up the biggest tent in the world when we didn't need to?"
"Um, well... Yes."
Petunia tapped her hoof against her chin. "You know how much of a supporter Princess Twilight Sparkle has been. To the faculty, to palaeontology, to science in Equestria. She's keener than any professor to read all about the latest discoveries and developments in almost any field, and her financial and logistical support... She puts her money where her mouth is."
"Of course," said the intern, confused. "But I don't see how-"
"So when we told the Princess what we'd found... Well, it couldn't have been more than ten minutes before we had a letter back from her. She invited me to the palace, to meet her and explain what we needed, first-hoof."
"Wow," said the intern, forgetting her attempted professionalism. "The Princess called on you personally?"
"She did," said Petunia, not quite excising all traces of pride from her voice. "But it was... unusual. I've met with her before, discussed projects, even requested formal approval. This time... This time, it was different."
"How do you mean, different?"
"Well, for a start, the speed of her reply, the enthusiasm for our discovery... she seemed like she was as keen as we were to get started, and yet she asked me to come to the palace three days later."
"I mean... she is pretty busy, Professor."
"Right. But then, when I got there... Rainbow Dash was there, too."
"Now you're just name-dropping!", giggled the intern, before her eyes widened with shock. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... I just got a bit excited there, and..."
"Don't worry," smiled Petunia. "But you won't make it too far in this line of work if you're too easily impressed by meeting the heroes of Equestria." She leaned in close to the intern and whispered with a wink: "...Fundraising."
The intern giggled again, and this time she didn't apologise.
Petunia continued. "So, Rainbow Dash was in conversation with the Princess as I was shown in, and... I don't know how to describe it, but the whole thing felt strange somehow. I barely started my pitch when the Princess offered a signed permit, with her full financial and legal support, to erect a tent on the site. And when I say a tent, I mean this tent. She specified the dimensions, the exact positioning... Princess Twilight set the exclusion zone herself, wider than we asked for."
"...Why?" blurted the intern.
"I didn't question it, and neither should anyone else. Not if they want their dig paid for," said Petunia, scratching her head. "All I know is that she'd already marked it out on the map, exactly where we needed to set this thing up, all ready to go, by the time I got there."
"Huh? Something who hasn't thought through?"
"Did you forget to knock, airpony?", said Captain Scootaloo, glaring crossly over her shades at Pickle Barrel, who suddenly felt very small in the Captain's very big office.
"No ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!", said Pickle, breaking into a stiff salute.
"That's better," smirked Scootaloo, covering over the map and letters that had been covering her desk. "What do you want?"
"I just came to drop off the updated rotas for tomorrow, now that Rainbow Dash isn't going to be there to direct us any more. But then your door was open, and I heard you muttering to yourself..."
"I do do that," said Scootaloo. "Well, thank you, airpony."
"Will that be all, ma'am?", asked Pickle.
"Yes, thank you," said Scootaloo, and then paused as Pickle saluted. "Wait, no. There was one other thing. Close the door."
"Yes, ma'am," said Pickle, doing as she was told. "What is it, Captain?"
"I need you to make sure that that doesn't reach the press," said Scootaloo.
"That what doesn't reach the press, ma'am?"
"Crash not staying here," said Scootaloo, lifting a mug of cold coffee to her lips and wincing as she took a gulp. "I know I gave orders not to tell, but I wanted to underline that I need total secrecy on this. As far as the rest of Equestria knows, I want everypony believing she's still on camp, working on this stunt."
"Yes ma'am. Um..."
"No, you may not ask why. When Crash is involved, and there's an order for secrecy, I've learned never to question it. It could be the fate of Equestria at stake - "
Pickle gulped nervously -
" - or a surprise birthday party," continued Scootaloo, still in the same stiff military tone, "or some other crazy scheme that hasn't been properly thought through. It's not for us to judge, airpony."
"Yes ma'am. So, uh... is that what you were..."
Scootaloo sighed, rubbing her temples with her hooves. "Permission to speak freely, airpony."
"Well, ma'am... since when did Rainbow Dash ever think anything through? But she's the best! And... well, we're always grateful to her in the end."
"Anything that wasn't a flight plan, anyway," laughed Scootaloo, draining her coffee before grimacing again. "Ugh, cold. But, well, yeah. She's not just the most decorated flyer we've ever had, she's not just a hero of Equestria who happens to be best friends with the Princess... she's Rainbow Dash. Rainbow. Dash. "
Scootaloo and Pickle shared a look, as they both wordlessly remembered the vital role Rainbow had played in their own lives.
"The Wonderbolts owe her. I owe her. You owe her. And the world owes her," said Scootaloo, finally breaking the silence. "So even if it turns out not to be some vital mission, even if it's just that she needs help with one more crazy plan, for old times' sake, well... what can I say?"
"Yes, ma'am," grinned Pickle, and saluted stiffly again.
"Dismissed," said Scootaloo, but Pickle noticed she was still smiling.
"Ah heard she was due back," said Applejack. "Ah don't know why this keeps on happenin', but ah was most definitely told she'd be back."
"I don't know what to tell you," said Sandbar. "Yona will be back with lunch later... Maybe you could ask her?"
"Or maybe you can tell me when Rarity will be back in town," said Applejack, grumpily, before noting Sandbar's dismayed expression. "Ah'm sorry, Sandbar, ah don't mean to be so sore with you. Ah'm just kinda upset. Ah always feel a mite strange talkin' to Rarity about personal stuff, for... well, for obvious reasons, an' ah don't feel it's right to go blabberin' on to you about mah feelins and whatever. But ah just really needed to talk to a friendly face, and ah wanted her advice, and ah'd kinda got mah self up hopin' to see Rarity... Well, here ah am, just an old mare goin' on about nothin'."
"It's fine, Applejack," said Sandbar. "It's always great to see you. Whenever any of our professors shows up, it's just a really nice surprise."
"You're a good young'un," grinned Applejack, straightening her hat. "Ah always did think you had good manners."
"Why don't you stick around?", asked Sandbar. "Yona will be back soon, and she's always happy to see you too. I can make some herbal tea, and I think we have some of Pumpkin's apricot fritters left from breakfast - they're nearly as good as Pinkie Pie's?"
"Aw, that's sweet, but ah really only stopped by on account of wantin' to talk to Rarity," smiled Applejack. "Ah suppose she's not aware of the whole situation with the tent and all?"
"Oh, no, she said she'd spoken to Rainbow Dash about it yesterday!", exclaimed Sandbar, cheerfully.
There was a pause, as the stallion became a nervous colt again, covering his mouth with his hoof, the color draining from his cheeks as Applejack grew progressively redder.
"Rainbow Dash spoke to Rarity ?" snarled Applejack, pawing the ground in anger. "And she didn't come see me? "
"...Rainbow, or Rarity?", asked Sandbar, before quickly realising his mistake.
"Either one!" shouted Applejack. "You said Rarity was out of town. Are you lyin' to me?"
"I... uh... no?", said Sandbar, unconvincingly.
"Is she out of town, or not?"
"She is!" cried Sandbar. "That's true! We haven't seen her in a few days, she's just been writing letters!"
"But she's been talkin' to Rainbow Dash?"
"...no? I mean... I think I got that wrong. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I got the days mixed up, or... uh... I was thinking of a different pony. No, the more I think about it... Yeah! Sorry, I got that wrong. Rarity didn't say that."
"Why do ah get the feelin'," spat Applejack, as Sandbar nervously backed away, "that y'all are sellin' me a bunch o'hooey ?"
"I don't know what you m-mean," stammered Sandbar, but Applejack cut him off.
"No. Ah'm done talkin' with you. Ah'm done talkin' with anypony who can't answer mah simple questions with a straight answer. Startin' right now, ah intend to go find out exactly what Rainbow Dash is doin', sneakin' around behind mah back and consortin' with MAH EX-MAREFRIEND?!"
Rarity looked at her hooves in the faint light of the spell, and allowed herself an inward smile. Twenty or thirty years of epic adventures, epic nights up sewing and stitching, and epic spa days, and her hooves were still as soft as the gentle blue light radiating from her horn.
Suddenly, her ears perked up, and without looking away from her hooves, she half-whispered quietly but firmly into the darkness.
"You're late. "
There was no answer, but Rarity smiled again at the sound of an annoyed snort from the shadows.
"Very surreptitious, darling, I must say. Now... you're quite sure you weren't seen? You do have rather a habit of... standing out."
"I'm telling you," grinned Rainbow Dash as she emerged from the gloom, "I can be sneaky when I need to be. Pretty sure nopony even noticed me heading out of the Wonderbolts compound, never mind doubling back here. With all of... this ", she snorted as she gestured around at the barely-visible tent canopy above them, "...yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the last place anypony would think to look for me."
"It's not anypony that concerns me," whispered Rarity, crossly. "It's Applejack. Tell me she didn't see you."
"Like I said," snorted Rainbow, barely keeping her voice low enough not to echo off the canvas walls of the massive tent. "I'm pretty sure nopony saw me."
"This will be bad enough however she finds out," muttered Rarity. "If she finds out by walking in on the two of us..."
"Yeah, well, we'd best hope she doesn't find out, then," scoffed Rainbow, as she turned to fly low along the path. "You agreed to come out here and meet me. I'm here, meeting you. You didn't have to come, but since you did, we're in it together. Now, are you coming?"
"I don't feel good about this," said Rarity, shaking her head, but following along nonetheless, her feeble light barely illuminating the path ahead.
Rainbow paused in mid-air, turning her head to give Rarity a wicked smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah? Well, you will ," she grinned, and Rarity's heart skipped so suddenly she couldn't help but smile too.
Author's Note
There's Always An Explanation
"Go big - or go home!"
Those five words were everywhere, unavoidable; printed on T-shirts and pennants, looped in advertising jingles, plastered over every available surface whenever the Wonderbolts were in town.
Spitfire hadn't liked Rainbow's idea to use it as a motto. For sure, Rainbow remembered the withering look Spitfire had given her from behind those shades, eyebrows raised, repeating those words before pausing for just the right amount of time... and then asking a squirming Rainbow if she'd heard correctly, that she was suggesting the Wonderbolts advertise their shows by telling fans to stay home.
Of course, when Spitfire had put it like that, it sounded dumb, and Rainbow had felt dumb, and the posters had stayed stiffly official, and wordy, and earnest, and the crowds had kept showing up in decent numbers, and the idea had been quietly swept into the breeze.
When Scootaloo came on board, the first thing she did was to bring a bunch of old Washouts posters to the recruitment office. After much arguing, she'd managed to convince the Wonderbolts that whatever the rights and wrongs of the actual Washouts shows, their marketing had been pretty awesome. There'd been a lot of discussion, and a lot of hooves pounding on tables, and Rainbow had taken the opportunity to show Scootaloo the slogan she'd come up with years before.
Eventually, the Wonderbolts had agreed to give Scootaloo one show, using that new slogan, one show to play up the flashy, dangerous, fun side of the average Wonderbolts performance.
It wasn't until Rainbow Dash was making her sighting laps, and looked down to see a line of ponies stretching into the distance, queueing for tickets to the already-full, hastily-added second night, stomping their hooves and chanting the new motto in unison, that she'd realized Scootaloo was on to something.
"Go Big! Or Go Home! Go Big! Or Go Home!"
She'd been right all along.
Applejack hadn't liked the new slogan either. Unlike Rainbow Dash, she'd never gotten over that initial dislike. Until now, she'd never put that dislike into words for Rainbow to hear, or to read, because Applejack knew...
She sighed and shook her head and snorted and resumed her pacing up and down the old main hall, oblivious to the sound of her loudly clacking hoof-stomps echoing off the walls.
...She hadn't ever said it, because she knew that if she did that, she'd have to explain herself. She knew Rainbow didn't need to hear that explanation. She knew there was no way Rainbow would take her explanation kindly. She knew that the whole idea of picking that slogan apart was opening up a can of worms. Ugly, treacherous worms that might never fit back in there again.
Back when Applejack had first managed to reconcile the idea of representing the Element of Honesty with the idea of not telling her marefriend something in case it hurt her feelings... that was when she'd truly known, for real, that this was it, that this was happening and that this was right and that this was good and that she never, ever wanted it to end.
And now it felt like it was all going wrong, and she didn't know why, and she didn't like not knowing why... and that feeling, that knowing, that she wanted things to stay the same forever, that feeling was starting to flicker and peel and bend, all because she felt like she'd been lied to, and somehow Rainbow Dash...
...still...
There's always an explanation , she thought to herself, as she paced the floor. Always .
Applejack hadn't so much realized she preferred the romantic company of mares, or at least not at any particular moment she could later identify with the benefit of hindsight. Rather, she'd come to a growing acceptance that she wasn't particularly interested in stallions on any level, and that she found something unpleasant - or at least wearisome - in the idea of submitting to somepony, of being with somepony who couldn't handle their partner being stronger or more stubborn. From there, it had been a gradual process of acknowledging to herself that while she wasn't actively looking for a relationship with anypony, since honestly the farm work that took up most of her time was always more interesting than the idea of canoodling with anypony, stallion or not, well...
...if push came to shove, she'd supposed it might be rather nicer to cuddle up by the fire with a mare on a cold night, to help brush a mare's mane and tail in the morning, to bathe with a mare, to kiss a mare, to passionately kiss a mare, to go to bed with a mare....
...and - eventually - she'd stopped thinking too much. Applejack had just accepted she was gay, and that that was that, and that there was probably no practical situation that might arise in which that information would make any difference to anypony, and that it was best not to dwell on such matters, and that anyway it was time to rotate the crops in the south field.
And then a situation did arise, and when it happened it had been as unexpected as it had been wonderful, and for a few months it had felt like everything old was new again and all bets were off and her life had begun afresh. The Story of Applejack, Act Two.
Waking up next to Rarity, playfully resisting most of her attempts at "prettifying", secretly swelling with pride at every new article and fashion show, it had all been like some kind of crazy dream. Even stepping out in public next to her marefriend had been a thrill and an adventure. Stepping out, because Rarity needed her. Stepping out to be photographed , in the least frou-frou Rarity creation she'd found acceptable. Stepping out to be photographed, and knowing those photographs would make it to the Ponyville papers and to Sweet Apple Acres. Knowing that a conversation she'd never felt the need to have before was hurtling around the bend, and that by kissing Rarity on the cheek in Manehattan, she was making Big Mac spit his oats over the breakfast table a couple hundred miles away. It had all been incredible.
But it hadn't been right .
When they'd eventually, inevitably broken up, Applejack still too bound to the farm and to home, Rarity needing to live her worldwide life in the public eye to keep her business and her reputation alive, it had been a kind of relief. Applejack felt proud that they had managed to remain friends afterwards, that the first time she saw Rarity with another mare she hadn't felt the stabbing pain of betrayal or any of the other stuff that romance novels had tried to warn her about; she'd just felt glad Rarity had managed to move on, and that was pretty much it.
But when Applejack came to give Rarity back some of her stuff, clearing out a bunch of reminders of a relationship that no longer existed, she'd realized with a jolt that the picture she'd most treasured - the picture she'd always kept closest, the one she'd taken with her on adventures, the one where she'd had copies made for her nightstand - wasn't a picture of her and Rarity at all.
It was the whole gang - six ponies and a dragon - posing together, smiling and laughing after some victory or other, and just in that split second, just as the camera shutter had clicked, Rainbow had been looking at Applejack from across the group.
Applejack had seen that picture a thousand times before, but as she'd picked it up to put it in the Rarity box, she'd noticed the look in Rainbow's eyes, and it had struck her with a shock of recognition she'd never felt before, a sudden and obvious flash of familiarity.
She knew that look.
Rainbow had tried to deny it, of course she had.
It's a trick of the light, it's me blinking as the camera went off, it's probably the only shot out of the whole roll where I have that expression. There's always an explanation.
Applejack hadn't bought it. Rainbow had known Applejack hadn't bought it, but she'd been grateful to her for letting her do it anyway; for letting her pretend that this was all Applejack's idea and that Rainbow had come to question her feelings only after she knew Applejack was interested, only after she'd spoken to Rarity to make sure it would all be OK.
I've never thought about it, but sure, let's give this a shot, maybe it'll be awesome, no biggie if it doesn't work out, I know we'll do our best to make sure it isn't weird, this doesn't mean I have to start acting all girly and going to the spa, well, yeah, why not?
Within a month, the picture was back on Applejack's nightstand, and AJ had gotten used to waking up to a honking snore and a face full of blue feathers, deliriously happy.
"Why'd you gotta pick one?"
~ What?
"That danged slogan! 'Go big or go home', ah always hated it!"
~ AJ... have you been drinking again?
"Don't you go usin' your fancy arguments to muddy the issue, missy. Ah'm talkin' now. An' I'm tellin' you it's a bad line to be usin'. Oh, sure, it's a great slogan for the Wonderbolts as a group, y'all can thank Scootaloo for makin' your shows more excitin' and gettin' them crowds packed into the showgrounds and sellin' more t-shirts with your pretty face all over 'em. For sure, all of that's true enough. But it's a bad line for you , Rainbow Dash."
~ Uh, what? You mind explaining why?
"You wanna know? For real?"
Applejack sighed and wiped a forehoof across her head before continuing.
"Because it's dumb , Rainbow. Ah never liked it because it's dumb . It says to me... it says to everypony watchin' you, flyin' around up there, soakin' up all the applause, readin' them posters, that for you, for Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt-iest Wonderbolt there ever was... It says that goin' big ain't ever gonna be the same as goin' home. And ah always wanted the biggest thing for you, in your life, to be home. Our home. The way ah always felt about mah home, ever since ah got mah cutie mark. Wantin' to go home... that's mah thing, Rainbow. It's always felt like, deep down... it ain't yours."
A lengthy pause.
"You there?"
~ Yeah, I'm here.
"And... ah never felt ah could tell you, because ah don't wanna be your anchor. Your dumb hick farmin' earth pony anchor, who keeps you from followin' your dreams. We both know it, you love hearin' a crowd of ponies cheerin' and hollerin' and callin' your name. Ah felt like if'n ah told you mah deepest fears there, you'd grow resentful, like ah wanted to keep you grounded, stop you bein' you. And that ain't it at all, Rainbow! Ah ain't never been prouder of you than... d'you know when? Not seein' you save Equestria or do some incredible flyin' trick, nope. Proudest ah ever was to be the marefriend of the one and only Rainbow Dash was when ah sat in that gym up in Vanhoover, watchin' you sit for eight and a half danged hours signin' autographs for every little colt and filly who came on out to see you. Ah know the love of your fans is in your blood, Rainbow Dash."
~ I know what's in your blood right now. You know I don't like it when you drink, AJ. Not when you're on your own.
"Ah wouldn't BE on mah own, if mah marefriend could see fit to give me just one precious night outta her oh so danged important Wonderbolts stuff to set mah mind at ease! But ah'm startin' to think you don't even care about mah worries and mah cares, just so long as you can do your lil' loop-de-loops or whatever!"
~ Aw, come on, AJ. You know that's not true. And hey, you always said my stunts were awesome! And I mean, we all KNOW you can't lie about that stuff, not to my face. What's gotten into you? (Besides the booze, that is.)
"What's gotten into me? Apart from the fact mah house is under a tent full of dinosaur bones, and mah very own mate is refusin' to come home and comfort me? Sure, that might be enough of an explanation for most ponies, but seems like it ain't enough for Rainbow Dash, on account of how well ah seem to be dealin' with all of this, so you need more? Hmmmm, let me think," said Applejack, tapping her hoof on her chin in a mock expression of deep thought. "Oh, here we go, ah reckon ah got somethin'. How about, here ah am mindin' mah own business tryin' to keep calm and go about mah day, and ah find out y'all have been secretly correspondin' with Rarity? Of all the ponies to be goin' behind mah back with... Rarity , ah'm askin' you! How about that, huh? How d'you like them apples?"
~ Uh, what? I don't know what you're talking about.
"Y'all are HIDIN' somethin' from me, missy, and ah do not care for bein' lied to! Now, you best get your rump down here RIGHT NOW an' explain to me exactly what is goin' on, or ah swear to Celestia ah'm gonna-"
"Enough!!!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer, and the quill fell abruptly to the floor. "This is not what I had in mind when I offered to let you use these journals, and it is not what I had in mind when I offered to let you use my speech to text spell!"
Applejack looked sheepishly at the polished floor.
"I think you should go to bed, Applejack," said Starlight, gently floating the whiskey bottle away with her magic, drawing a petulant murmur from her drunken guest. "You can write a proper letter to Rainbow in the morning, when you've cleared your head."
"Ah'm sorry, Starlight," mutter-drawled Applejack, as she staggered towards the stairs. "Ah guess ah need to ask your hospitality one more night."
"You know you're always welcome," said Starlight, casually tucking the magical journal under her foreleg and clasping it closed. "But I don't want to get in the middle of whatever's happening between you and Rainbow Dash. And I think it'll be best for everypony if you head to bed now. Friends don't let friends journal when drunk."
"Now, what's the matter, darling?," asked Rarity, concerned. "You've barely said a word these past five minutes. It was hardly worth me coming down here at this rate, never mind sneaking out again in the middle of the night like some... well, I was going to say, like somepony with something to hide , but I suppose that's an accurate description, isn't it?"
"She's onto me," said Rainbow Dash, darkly, not looking up.
"I beg your pardon?", said Rarity, and this time Rainbow looked up to meet her.
"She's onto me. She's onto us. "
"Whatever do you mean?"
"She's found out we've seen each other," said Rainbow, and Rarity's ears perked up in alarm.
"What? How?"
"I don't know," said Rainbow. "It was about a half hour before you got here. I was using Starlight's stupid magic journal thing. AJ told me she knew I talked to you. She was starting to write something else, and then she... stopped."
"What else does she know? Is she coming here now? ", asked Rarity, the panic in her rising voice clearly audible.
"No. I don't know. I don't think so. Look, just calm down, okay? I need you to be the calm one."
"Calm? Darling, I pride myself on keeping a level head in a crisis, but... Oh, Rainbow, it's Applejack we're talking about! Of all ponies... This is why I was so nervous about all of this!"
"I know, okay?", snorted Rainbow, standing up and pacing. "I'm not saying it's good, or anything. I'm just..."
Rainbow stopped, looking over towards the cottage. "...I don't want her to get hurt. I wanted to do this right, Rarity."
"Yes, well, you know my thoughts on that. My advice was to tell her, immediately, if you recall. She doesn't like any kind of a fuss, and if she were to discover..."
"Yeah. I know what you think. I don't agree. And I thought you sneaking out here in the middle of the night meant you were OK with me not agreeing. Do you even want this, Rarity?"
"Don't be cruel, darling. As you have so... directly pointed out, I am indeed here. With you. In secret. In a tent. In the middle of the night. There really isn't much room for mixed signals, as it were."
Rainbow suppressed a giggle, and Rarity smiled despite herself.
"I suppose I just don't understand why ," said Rarity, quietly.
"Why what?" snorted Rainbow.
"Why everything ," replied Rarity. "Why now, and why me? Why, when you have such a good thing going with Applejack?"
"Because I don't want 'good' any more, okay? 'Good' was good, but I'm not ready to settle for good. I want things to be perfect! "
Rainbow looked at Rarity, and reached out to take her hoof.
"And, y'know, when you're going for perfect, well... the first name anypony thinks of is yours, Rarity."
After a moment's hesitation, Rarity placed her hoof atop Rainbow's, and the two looked into each other's eyes for what felt like several minutes of silence.
Rarity finally gave a polite giggle, breaking the spell with a joke. "That's a given , darling!," she smiled, and Rainbow smirked too, relieved by the dissipating tension.
"But even with all of that... oh, Rainbow, you know my history with Applejack. You've been together with her longer than we ever were. If you had doubts on how to handle things with her, well, why ask me- "
"Because," said Rainbow, cutting her off as she turned away. "Because I still worry... that you know her better than I do."
There was a moment of silence, and then Rainbow snorted and shook her head.
"...Stupid...", she began to mutter under her breath. "Uh... could you maybe, kinda, forget I ever-"
Rarity placed a hoof on Rainbow's muzzle, gently hushing her with a smile.
"Darling," said Rarity, softly. "If there was ever one piece of advice I'd ever, ever choose to give somepony regarding Applejack, it would be this: '...What would Rainbow Dash do?'"
"Yeah?" asked Rainbow, tentatively leaning in for a cuddle. "You sure about that?"
"...I am," smiled Rarity, as she snuggled her close.
Rainbow Dash Writes a Letter
Dear AJ,
I love you.
I wanted to start with that, because I'm scared, and I think maybe I've gone and done a stupid thing.
Yeah, I know that's nothing new. When you add up all the mistakes I've made, I know I owe you so many extra cuddles, like you're thinking 'what dumb thing did Dashie do today' and I'm thinking 'which dumb thing is she thinking about?' and that's kind of just how it is, because I come up with all these great ideas and by the time I get to making them happen they don't seem great any more and sometimes they're so not great that I end up spending more time thinking about how to apologise for my latest stupid thing than I ever did planning the stupid thing in the first place.
I've been a pretty bad marefriend, haven't I?
Hey. Marefriend. It's still funny to even write that word and know it's me I'm talking about. Marefriend. Marefriend marefriend. You can't tell but I'm smiling right now.
APPLEJACK IS MY MAREFRIEND
It's even better when I know it's you that gave me that word. Sure OK I guess it was Twilight who taught me it was OK for a pony to put her feelings down on paper. That it didn't make me an egghead, just because I like to read. Or maybe, that being an egghead wasn't so bad. And you were always so awesome that way, weren't you? You never laughed at Twilight for reading books, and you never laughed at me for writing letters. And I promised you, right? All those moons ago, I promised you, every time I'm away from your side, I'm gonna write to you, and tell you how much I miss you.
And these past couple weeks I've broken that promise, huh? I mean I always miss you. I'm missing you right now, and I feel so so bad for not writing every day and telling you.
Whenever something happens in my life, which is like all the time because my life is pretty much stuff happening that nopony could have prepared for, there's only one pony I want to talk to. I want to tell you about everything that ever happens to me, sometimes because I just want to share my day with you and sometimes because I need advice and I know the wisest and sensible-est pony in Equestria will know what to do.
You make me feel like I was smart enough to figure the problem out all by myself. Whether I really did or whether it was just you guiding me. Either way I like that feeling, AJ, I like it a whole lot. When I'm in your hooves I feel safe and all my worries seem so stupid because you always know the exact thing I need to hear to get myself back up and in the air again.
But not always. See sometimes stuff happens and the one pony I want to talk to about it more than anypony else in the whole wide world, I can't talk about it, because she's what I want to talk about.
(I mean you. Yeah I hope that was obvious but you know like I said I can be dumb sometimes.)
So I've gone and done maybe the stupidest thing ever, and just like every time, now I'm thinking about how I can make it right. I hope you forgive me. I know you're gonna be SO MAD but I want to talk to you and explain everything, about why I've been acting so weird ever since we were supposed to be on our vacation together, about what I've been doing, about why -
About why I let you down and -
Oh man this is hard to write, I'm sorry -
About why I'm not there and saying let's go see the diplodocus together and meet at our special tree and go back to our special cottage and our special bed and pretend like I didn't do any of this -
Celestia damn it now the paper's wet I'm SO sorry -
Can I just say that? Can I just write I'M SORRY like a hundred times and have it mean a hundred times as much as me just saying that?
I have so much to tell you and I need you to hear it and it's really important to me.
Tomorrow, around - no, at. AT noon. My old place in Cloudsdale. I'm gonna send you a pegasus chariot to bring you to me. Then maybe afterwards -
I mean once you've heard my story and once you know just how stupid I've been this time -
- maybe we can decide what to do next.
Yours always, although I know it doesn't seem like it right now - but I promise I still am - I promise, AJ, please, believe me? oh Celestia I messed the ending up, that's so me, right? Let me try again.
Yours always.
Always. Like, as in, forever. For as long as you can put up with me and are willing to have me.
Rainbow Dash, The Proudest Marefriend In All Of Equestria
"Well, that's it," said Rainbow Dash, staring into space as the last pink-and-blue embers of the magical flame died out in mid-air. "I sent it."
"Yes, you did," said Rarity, her horn cooling from the exertion, as she reached out a hoof to gently pet Rainbow's mane. "It's done now."
"I hope... I mean, I think I am, but I really hope... Rarity, am I doing the right thing?"
"What's done is done," said Rarity, her neutral, non-committal tone making Rainbow Dash scrunch up her face in frustration. "But you've done the right thing in telling Applejack. Of that , I'm quite certain. This whole charade could not have gone on a single day longer, and the number of ponies you've told... She would have been hurt. And I have no wish to ever see her get hurt."
Rainbow groaned and facehoofed, and Rarity, not knowing what else to do, continued to stroke her thinning mane and make little shush noises as if Rainbow Dash was a sleepy cat.
"I need you to tell me it's gonna be OK," said Rainbow, morosely. "AJ would always do that. But I can't ask AJ. Obviously. And I need somepony to just tell me... things are going to be alright. That I didn't just go and do the dumbest thing anypony ever did, in the history of dumb ponies doing dumb things."
"Well, ah... there there?", said Rarity, and Rainbow gave her A Look.
"...Really?"
"Oh, come along now, Rainbow, darling, don't give me your frowny eyes. If you wanted somepony to just sit here and tell you this is all going to work out wonderfully without a hitch... that's not me, and you know it. But I can say that following your heart doesn't make you a bad pony."
"I didn't say bad, I said dumb," said Rainbow.
"Yes, well, it's all a rich tapestry, isn't it?", said Rarity, pretending to examine her hooficure.
"Rarity... what if she gets mad, and you and me... Can we still see each other? Like, if everypony finds out and they all decide they hate us, can we still get together sometimes? Maybe away from Ponyville or something?"
"...Well, I'm sure it won't come to that , darling," said Rarity, as calmly and convincingly as she could muster, not daring to meet Rainbow's eyes.
"You know, Rare," said Rainbow, with a half-smile, "for all the amazing costumes and masks you make, and for all the sneaking around spying and getting information you do... when it comes to me and romantic stuff, you're almost as bad at lying as AJ."
"Never mind all of that now," said Rarity, standing up and dusting off her cloak before sweeping it around her shoulders. "We have an awful lot to do, and we've wasted enough time already as it is."
At the exact moment the bells of Cloudsdale rang out for twelve o'clock, a heavy pounding shook the door of Rainbow Dash's old cloud condo, and Rainbow gulped loudly.
Of course she'd be on time, to the second. Of course she would.
Rainbow had allowed herself to go through what she wanted to say, a dozen times. She'd allowed herself to imagine a dozen different reactions, from a hoof in the face, to total forgiveness, to an overjoyed, frantic, fumbling trip to her old bedroom. She'd allowed herself to wonder if Applejack was coming at all, and had managed to stop looking out of the window every two minutes to check. She'd recited her lines, memorised all the most important points she needed to hit, talked to herself in the bathroom mirror, left obvious pacing grooves in the thin cloud layer covering the hallway floor.
But when the time came to open the door, Rainbow found all the words were gone, and her knees weren't working, and her voice was thin and strangled.
"You in there, Rainbow?", barked Applejack from behind the door, and Rainbow shook her head and tried to answer and raised her hoof and lowered her hoof and thought briefly about making a dash for the rear windows. She could be in Canterlot in less than two hours, and from there she could fly to the ruins of Pegasopolis, or to the dragon lands, she'd find a job cloudbusting in some random village in the middle of nowhere and dye her hair and nopony would ever see her again. It would be so easy to just quit now. Run away.
"...I'm here," came a voice from somewhere, and it took Rainbow a moment to realise it was hers. "I'm... I'm coming, AJ. Hold on a second."
She fumbled with the latch, and the heavy door swung open, revealing a frowning Applejack standing on the marble step. Still not comfortable in the sky, even after all this time, thought Rainbow, still, after learning how clouds work, after so many trips to the canopy...
"Well?", said Applejack, and Rainbow's ears perked up in surprise.
"I, uh... Hi, AJ," said Rainbow, and a million more calculations streamed through her mind. Kiss her. Hug her. Stroke her mane. Turn around, see if she follows. Tackle her to the ground. Throw yourself at her mercy. Act cool. Burst into tears.
Rainbow did none of those things.
"You, uh... You wanna come in?", she asked, internally facehoofing at how dumb a question that was, and how timid she sounded asking it.
"Sure," said Applejack, still sounding unhappy, but also a little confused.
"Come on in," said Rainbow, beckoning Applejack inside, closing the heavy door back up behind her. "You, uh, you wanna go to the kitchen? There's no cider, but we could have a glass of wine maybe?"
"Uh... alright?", said Applejack, definitely now more confused than angry. Rainbow screamed at herself for acting like a foal, but that was exactly how she felt, like a nervous filly standing on a podium, trying to look cool in front of her new friends while her parents whooped and hollered in the front row. She made to show Applejack the way to the kitchen, remembered her marefriend had been here for so many overnight stays that half of Equestria had assumed she had moved in permanently, and almost tripped over a particularly thick clump of cloud floating along above the floor. Finally, with intense relief, Rainbow reached the kitchen and slumped herself down in a chair at the table, while Applejack watched her with increasing concern.
"Are you... Is everything okay, sugarcube?", said Applejack, and Rainbow Dash's heart swelled with joy to hear the tenderness in her voice win out over the anger.
"You wanna sit down, AJ?", said Rainbow, finding her confidence, feeling as though the color was returning to her cheeks along with the hope. "I've got a whole lot of stuff to tell you."
"You can start by gettin' me a glass of water, then," said Applejack, and Rainbow nodded and found a dusty glass in the cupboard, running it under the taps to clean it off and fill it up. "Ah reckon it's maybe too early to be drinkin'," added Applejack, and even though Rainbow's back was turned as she filled the glass, she knew Applejack could sense the smile of relief on her face.
"...Here you go," said Rainbow, almost slopping the water all over the pair of them as she over-eagerly presented the glass to her marefriend, who promptly gulped it down.
"AJ...", said Rainbow, looking down at her hooves for a moment before finding the courage to look her marefriend in the eye. "I've... Don't hate me for this, but I've lied to you."
"Ah figured as much," said Applejack, downing the last dregs of her water. "But ah don't know to what purpose."
"Well... that's why I asked you up here," said Rainbow, fidgeting.
"Seems like as good a time as any to come clean, then," said Applejack, belatedly taking off her hat and setting it on the table, and Rainbow thought she saw her hooves shaking slightly, and wondered if she'd imagined it, and realised the room had fallen silent, and started talking to fill the empty space.
"So. Okay. Uh... So you know I love pranks, right?", said Rainbow, attempting a smile which vanished immediately as soon as she saw Applejack's face fall, and her grip on her hat tightening. "No! Wait, that's not - I didn't mean-"
"Rainbow Dash," snarled Applejack, "have you been playin' me for a fool just for a danged prank? I swear to Celestia, if Pinkie Pie jumps out of that cupboard, ah'm going back to the surface right this second and-"
"It's not a prank!" yelled Rainbow Dash, startling herself as much as she startled Applejack, who sat herself back down in surprise.
"Ah'm listenin'..."
"You know me better than anypony in the world, AJ. You know I do stuff by the seat of my pants most of the time. The only things I was ever any good at planning were flight stunts, and pranks."
"Reckon that's true enough," said Applejack, without a smile, and Rainbow continued.
"But for... well, for a long time. The longest time, really. Since the first time we... I mean, since you and Rarity..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "For a long time, I've had another plan. It took a while - and I mean like years - to get a lot of the details together, and some stuff I always figured I'd just make up as I went along as always, but other stuff I had planned out, and it was always a big secret, and the only way I could keep it a secret was to think of it like an epic prank. Like the most epic prank ever. But it's not a prank. I swear."
"You swear, huh? Ah swear, you better start with the whole explainin' part of this here explanation, on account of quite frankly it ain't makin' things any clearer so far," drawled Applejack, and Rainbow allowed herself to wonder if she sounded less angry than she had a few minutes ago.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "Go big or go home, right?," she said, and this time Applejack definitely hardened. "You know, I read your letter over and over. And, yeah, at first I felt like you were kind of mocking my life's work. I know Rarity got bent out of shape about you doing that, even when you didn't mean to. Yeah," she said, reading Applejack's look. "Yeah, I talked to Rarity. I'll get to that later. But right now I want to talk about 'go big or go home'. Cos I think you need to know something about that."
"And what would that be?"
"You're wrong."
"This is a terrible apology," snorted Applejack.
"...You're wrong about me," said Rainbow Dash, growing more confident as she got louder. "Being with you is the biggest adventure ever. The most epic quest, the number one prize, the greatest victory, whatever you want to call it..."
Rainbow Dash turned her back to Applejack again and walked over to the window, looking out at the vista of the cloud city spread beneath them. Applejack looked up at her, silhouetted against the windowframe, wings not quite fully tucked away, the multi-colored reflections of the rainbow waterfall shining through the glass onto her marefriend's curves.
"Everypony always thought I liked mares, even when I didn't really understand it myself," said Rainbow. "You know I wasn't looking for anything. Or, I mean, I didn't know I was looking. But then when you took up with Rarity, everything just made sense, and I let myself dream, and I let myself want the biggest win ever, and it was terrifying because I don't like going into anything not believing I can totally win, but..."
She turned to look at Applejack, eyes meeting across the kitchen.
"I already won, AJ," said Rainbow. "I already went just about as big as I could go."
Rainbow slowly let out a deep breath, continuing before Applejack could say anything. "I always knew you hated me risking my flank, and I always loved that you knew not to try and stop me doing it anyway," she said. "But I think you also know... if you ever asked me, I'd stop tomorrow. Because I love flying, but... ugh, I'm sorry if this sounds really lame, but I love you more."
"Ah love you too, sugarcube," said Applejack, softly. "But ah don't understand what any o' that has to do with any o' this. "
"The big challenge. That's why I love to fly fast, win races, do epic stunts... fight for Equestria. It's the thrill of beating the biggest challenge anypony can throw at me."
"You're sayin' ah was a challenge?"
"No," snorted Rainbow. "I'm saying, the biggest challenge wasn't a race or a stunt or a prank or a battle. It wasn't even finding the courage to admit I liked mares, or to ask you out."
"...We asked each other - " began Applejack, but Rainbow quieted her with a raised hoof.
"The biggest challenge was me opening myself up. I like books. I like trashy romance novels. I like the spa. I like cuddles and kisses. I like being in a relationship. I like... I like being the marefriend. Being your marefriend. You go big and you get to spend your life with the best mare in Equestria, or you go home, alone, because you missed your shot. I took my shot, AJ. I took my shot and I went big, I risked my best friend and it all turned out better than I ever dreamed, and I feel like I've taken on that challenge and I've won and I'm so happy every single day and it's as if nothing can get better and nothing can ever make me scared again -"
A pause.
A deep breath.
"...Until I realised there was still one thing left."
"What are you sayin' to me, sugarcube?"
Rainbow closed her eyes, and let out another long, slow, deep breath.
"Applejack..."
This is it.
(Gulp.)
"Right now. Down at Sweet Apple Acres. That big dinosaur tent? It's full of ponies."
"Huh...?"
"Ponies waiting for us. Waiting for me to take you on my back and fly down there."
"Dashie? Ah don't understand..."
"...In that tent, right now, all our friends and our families... are waiting to see us get married."
Canterlot
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?", said Princess Twilight, thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Scootaloo has had this whole trick planned out for, like, a year now. It's stupidly dangerous, or at least it looks like it, which is kind of our thing nowadays - I mean, I know you like that stuff, right?"
"I went to one Washouts show, thirty years ago!," blurted Twilight, and Rainbow laughed loudly.
"Ah, come on, Twilight, I'm joking," said Rainbow. "But it's the perfect opportunity. I've got to go up to the compound and show them how to do some of the moves they'll need. I figured... Well, I can go up there, be seen, have my picture taken, let everypony gossip about what Rainbow Dash is doing, and then after a couple days I can sneak back out, start to prepare everything. It's gonna be fine."
"Are you sure?", repeated Twilight. "Lying to Applejack..."
"It's not lying ," said Rainbow, defensively. "I'd never lie to AJ. I just won't be telling her the truth about what I'm doing!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, come on!," said Rainbow. "She'll be fine . I promise. It's for a good cause. I know what I'm doing."
Twilight's eyebrow remained unlowered.
"Well, mostly I do. I just... I need some help with the details. Mostly I need a way to set everything up, somewhere Applejack won't look."
"Well," said Twilight, breaking into a huge smile. "Who's the best Princess of Friendship you know?"
"Uh... you're the only Princess of Friendship anypony knows."
"Exactly!"
"What are you saying, Twilight?"
"I had some news to pass on to you. In fact, I was going to call you over here, before you said you were coming to see me anyway."
"Uh, okay? What news?"
Twilight leaned forward in her throne, rubbing her forehooves together with a conspiratorial grin. "Rumors have been spreading in the scientific community about an important palaeontological find, just outside Ponyville. On the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres."
"O-kay....", said Rainbow, trying to feign interest.
"Oh yes," beamed Twilight. "In fact, the site of the discovery is almost right next to your cottage."
"What?"
"Mmhm! It seems that there may well be a complete diplodocus skeleton, buried for millennia beneath the ground. A minor tremor last week caused part of it to move closer to the surface, where some pegasi were able to take pictures from the sky to confirm the existence of the site."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've received word from the Canterlot Museum that they want to send a team out to investigate, and possibly to conduct a full dig. The whole area would need to be cordoned off - in fact, I had a wonderful conversation last year with a tentmaker who wants funding to build the biggest circus tent in Equestrian history, and I promised him I'd look into finding him an opportunity. With a small design tweak, it could easily be the biggest marquee in Equestrian history, and it could cover a huge area, much larger than a dinosaur dig!"
"This... That sounds perfect," said Rainbow, wide-eyed.
"It really does!", giggled Twilight. "Now, I'm expecting them here in a few minutes. I'll sign their permit and have the committee engage the tentmaker right away, and they can be on site next week!"
"Next week? "
"You wanted things to move quickly, right? And this way, Applejack isn't left hanging too long." Twilight fixed Rainbow with a firm look. "I don't want her to get hurt, Rainbow. I know I can trust you."
"Of course you can trust me," said Rainbow, indignantly. "But next week? Can't it wait, like, one week longer? AJ and me are meant to be having a romantic getaway. Or a week in the cottage just chilling out together."
"Chillaxing," giggled Twilight, and Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, Twi, this is serious," she said. "Can't you postpone all of this stuff?"
"Science waits for nopony, Rainbow," said Twilight, acting affronted. "You're all about speed, right? I'm sure you can figure out how to get something important done fast. And without hurting Applejack."
"I guess I'd best get back to Ponyville," said Rainbow, flustered, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "Uh... thanks? I think?"
"I'll be here if you need any assistance," said Twilight. "And it's always great to see you, Rainbow."
"I'll see you around, then," said Rainbow, heading out. "...No, wait, whoa whoa whoa, hold up," she said, pausing and twisting herself around to fly back into the throne room just as the doors were about to close. "This dinosaur-"
"A diplodocus," said Twilight, nodding.
"...Did you, like, just find out it was there? Or did you know it was there all along, and you've been waiting for an excuse to dig it up?" Rainbow gasped and placed a hoof on her mouth. "...Or did you put it there? Can you do that?"
"A good Princess never reveals her secrets," giggled Twilight, as Rainbow gawped. "I'll tell you what. Stay for the meeting with the scientists, and we can have dinner afterwards. And then, I think you need to go and speak to Rarity."
"Sure," said Rainbow, smiling.
"And... Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"...Congratulations," said Twilight, and Rainbow's smile was wider than anypony had ever seen.
Carousel Boutique
"Your flair for the dramatic is going to break my heart..."
"I'm sorry, Rare. I didn't... I'm sorry. That was bad of me. Before asking you to set it up, I should have thought about-"
"Oh, darling, I don't pine for Applejack any more. I don't pretend our time together wasn't magical, I never have, I simply don't wish to flaunt it in anypony's face now that we've all moved on. And we have moved on, Rainbow, I assure you. It's merely that I cannot abide the idea of Applejack getting hurt again. She's given you her heart, more truly and more completely than she ever did with me. It's a precious gift, her entrusting it to you, and you mustn't take it lightly."
"I know," said Rainbow, looking at the ground. "I don't. I would never..." She mumbled into her wing. "She's everything. "
Rarity paused for a moment, looking at Rainbow Dash, before smiling broadly and trotting over to her wall planner.
"So, if we are to do this, I must set some conditions," she said, as markers and stickers levitated around the chart. "Firstly, the deception must not go on any longer than is strictly necessary to make all of the arrangements."
"Sure!" said Rainbow, beaming. "So does this mean you'll do it?"
Rarity raised her hoof to indicate she wasn't done talking.
"Secondly, upon your grand plan being revealed, you will make it absolutely clear to everypony that this was indeed your grand plan, and that I had nothing to do with the concept."
"Okay," said Rainbow, still smiling. "I can do that. Anything else?"
"These... palaeontologists," said Rarity, "are not only to be sworn to absolute secrecy about the very obvious wedding preparations going on around them, but they are not to interfere with those preparations. Or tramp their muddy hooves all over my décor."
"If you can keep the visible stuff away from the eggheads for as long as you can, that'll help," said Rainbow. "We can work at night. Put up false walls. Hide as much as we can. I dunno, you're the expert. But sure. Is that everything? Will you do it?"
"Lastly," said Rarity, fixing Rainbow with a glare, "if Applejack shows any signs of distress, or discovers what we're up to, you must confess at once ."
"No," said Rainbow Dash.
"I beg your pardon?" said Rarity, surprised.
"No," said Rainbow, more firmly. "I don't wanna hurt AJ. I never want that. But this has to be done right. I've had this plan, or, well, kinda had it, since forever. It's gonna be my wedding too, and the number one thing I want is for it to be perfect. And I know just how to make it perfect. I... It has to be like this. It's no good just me proposing and us taking months and doing rehearsals and all that Cadance and Shining Armor stuff. I need you to plan a big Big Mac and Sugar Belle wedding, and I need to keep AJ away from it long enough for you to get that done."
"I don't understand," said Rarity.
"I'm not sure I understand either," said Rainbow, "but I feel like I know what I have to do, and this is it. And I need your help. Because I need for it to be perfect, and in my dream vision, you're the one who makes things perfect."
"I don't know..." said Rarity, frowning. "I hate the idea of deceiving Applejack."
"Me too," said Rainbow. "But I promise - I promise , Rarity, look at me, I promise - I'm so gonna make it up to her if she says yes."
Sweet Apple Acres
Pinkie Pie paused mid-sentence, just long enough to take another huge breath that seemed to visibly inflate her like a balloon.
"...And we couldn't let you know what was happening until right up to the very last minute because otherwise it would spoil the surprise and someone would go and tell Applejack and then all of this was for nothing! But Rainbow said it was super important that we keep it a secret and that I should treat it like the bestest surprise party in Equestria ever, and that she couldn't figure out how to keep it a secret and also make sure that everypony she knows and loves could make it to the wedding, because what if somepony is out of town or has plans or decides to go and tell Applejack anyway? And I just laughed, kind of like this, hahahahahaha! Because it was almost like she didn't know me at all and yet she knows how me and Cheese both have super powers when it comes to planning surprise parties and this is like the biggest surprise party ever just like Rainbow said, and I was like, is she serious, does Rainbow not realise who she's talking to, because after all she's asking ME whether I can get all these invitations out to everypony and make sure they come along, and that's ridiculous but even if it was a good question, which it isn't , by the way, but even if it was, well, Fluttershy is getting Discord to help, and to behave himself this time, and Rarity already has the outfits ready, but there's no need to bring a gift and there's going to be a big party afterwards but Rainbow said Applejack will probably just want to dance and I've already got this amazing honeymoon planned for them but obviously it doesn't work if you don't go because the wedding has to be perfect and it won't be perfect if you aren't there so please oh please say yes, it's not a real question though because I already know you've made up your mind to come along and you're almost as excited as I am, I can tell, so... yay!"
Pinkie slumped to the floor for a moment, panting and exhausted, before springing back up and seemingly re-inflating in mid-air.
"...That's really nice," said Petunia Paleo, "but Sugar Belle won't be back with Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh for another ten minutes."
"Oh, I know," said Pinkie, wiping the sweat from her brow and pulling a cupcake from somewhere in her mane. "I just wanted to practice, because I have exactly eleven minutes before I'm due in Appleloosa."
She scarfed the cupcake down in one bite, paper and all. "...The Wonderbolts are flying me there," she said, answering Petunia's unasked question while spraying her with crumbs.
"...Oh, and I wanted to invite you too, of course. You really helped, even without knowing it. And what palaeontologist could resist going to a wedding next to the site where somepony once found a real life diplodocus skeleton?"
Rainbow Dash's Old Kitchen
"...and meanwhile, I invited you up here, and... well, that's it. That's everything."
Silence.
Applejack poked at her hat on the table, and stared at her hooves, and watched the tiny flurries of cloud scudding across the kitchen floor.
The silence went on.
Rainbow looked intently at Applejack, but Applejack didn't look up, instead just wordlessly pushing her hat around the table.
The silence went on some more.
Finally, Applejack looked up, and Rainbow Dash half-expected that hoof to the face she'd been worried about earlier.
"But... ya ruined the surprise?", she said, bewildered.
"No I didn't," grinned Rainbow Dash. "I know you too well. I know if I sprung this on you in front of everypony, without giving you the chance to back out, it wouldn't be a proposal at all."
"But..."
"You're the most amazing pony in the world and you deserve the best wedding ever. And you also deserve not to have to spend months worrying about all the stuff that goes into staging the best wedding ever. See, AJ... I know you like big gestures. You always have."
"What?! You know that ain't -"
"No. You secretly love it when I show you how much I love you. You just don't like having big surprises rear up at you with no warning, where you feel like you're just playing a part in somepony else's big day."
"Ah do not..."
"You do too. It's easier for you to pretend you just don't like being made a fuss of, that you don't enjoy being the center of attention, rather than get your hopes up for a perfect day and then have it ruined by other ponies and their expectations and their... stuff . But I've seen the way you look when you're being awesome winning a rodeo trophy. I've seen you when Rarity asks you to model something you actually like. I've seen you when I'm, uh... giving you some special attention . And I wanted to make you feel that way with this, too."
"That's not..." said Applejack, but Rainbow Dash shushed her with a hoof, and was rewarded with one of the biggest blushes she'd ever seen flush across her marefriend's face.
"C'mon now, AJ. It's me and I know you and it's all gonna be OK. So... this is your surprise."
"A big spectacle of a weddin'?"
"No. Just this. Just... this. Here. Me telling you about it. Spoiling that surprise. The 'big spectacle' is for... them," she said, gesturing vaguely with her hoof. "They all get to feel like they played a big part in our secret wedding and whatever, and it means a lot to everypony, and blah blah blah. It's all really sweet. Sure. But the real surprise... that's a secret for us. From me, to you, and from both of us. And that's because... if you don't like it -"
Rainbow Dash screwed up her face for a moment before finishing -
"...then it's history."
"What?!"
"You heard me. If you don't like it... if you don't wanna do this... I'm telling you now, from the heart, that that's OK. If you don't want it... I'll take the blame. I'll say I made a mistake. I messed up the proposal. I said all the wrong things. I'll tell all of the people down there it was a dumb idea. My dumb idea. Again." She paused, and smiled. "You know they'll buy that. "
Applejack snorted in amusement, and Rainbow allowed herself to give a hopeful, sheepish smile, before continuing.
"...But I mean it, AJ. I did this because I thought you'd kind of love it. But if you don't... that's OK. You didn't ask for this, and you shouldn't feel pressured into it just for me. I'm not that conceited. It's just... Hey, look at me, okay? It's just I already got to do the big reveal. I got to see the look on your face. That look! Yeah, like that!," she grinned, as Applejack blushed furiously again. "Like I pulled the ultimate, most awesome prank of all time, except it's not even a prank, it's about seeing the pony I love light up with her eyes all wide. Yeah, just like that," she smirked, and nudged Applejack in the ribs.
Applejack held up a hoof. "Okay. Quiet down a minute," she said, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples for a moment, before looking up at Rainbow again. "...So, let me get all o'this stuff straight here. Y'all stayed away from me for more'n a week , pretendin' you were doin' somethin' else...?"
"Yep," beamed Rainbow.
"You planned this whole thing, even knowin' how ah make a point of sayin' ah don't like to be made a fuss of?"
"Mm-hm," nodded Rainbow, smugly.
"You worked so hard to keep what you were plannin' a secret, you dragged mah ex-marefriend into it...?"
"Uh-huh," said Rainbow, a little less confidently.
"You got Twilight to lie for ya? And even after ah wrote you sayin' how low that left me, you couldn't see fit to come clean because it would spoil yer big surprise?"
"...Yeah...?", said Rainbow, shrinking into herself a little.
"And now, you're sayin'... just before you set me up to take a ride down to the ground and just before ah walk into a tent full o'mah friends and family waitin' to see us... yer ruinin' the surprise on purpose, just so as if'n ah should say to you, right here and right now, that ah don't want any of this, ah can just turn and walk away, and you ain't gonna be sore about it? You ain't gonna feel even the slightest lil' bit peeved about this whole state of affairs, if'n your ornery ol' marefriend here gets mad at you for doin' somethin' you got expressly told she don't want you to do, and if'n she turns tail an' up an' stomps away? Is that what you're sayin', Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash looked up into Applejack's eyes, to be met with that piercing emerald gaze she'd seen so many times before, looking straight into her soul.
Always that same look. Didn't matter where. On an epic adventure, locking eyes mid-battle; out with friends, catching her eye and sharing a knowing look; waking up in the morning, brushing her beautiful blonde mane out of her face... always that same look, the look that left Rainbow feeling so small and so grateful AJ was on her side, with no option but to tell the truth.
Like now.
"...Yeah," said Rainbow, slowly, all trace of the smirk gone. "I guess I am."
AJ looked at her a moment more, raising an eyebrow, and Rainbow refused to look away, digging her rear hooves into the mist, standing firm.
Slowly, a smile crept across Applejack's face, gradually getting wider and wider, until she looked just like she had that first day all those years ago, that day, the day, the best, greatest day of both of their lives. Until today.
"Well then, sugarcube, let's go get married," she grinned, and Rainbow almost knocked over the table in the rush to take her outstretched hoof.
The End
Author's Note
And that's my longest ever story! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.
I had the two separate plot ideas - Rainbow's Big WeddingTM proposal testing AJ's patience, and a dream-fuelled story about ponies at a dinosaur dig - bouncing around in my head, before I realised they could complement each other. Then the "Go Big or Go Home" AppleDash contest spurred me into action to actually write the story, which ended up being longer than I ever anticipated, but I had so much fun writing it all the same.
"The search for knowledge is, undoubtedly, the most important cause to which any pony can dedicate their lives. Even the illustrious former Head Mare of this very institution, the Princess of Friendship herself, spent her own early life in the study of science and the advancement of knowledge. She understood. She knew what all ponies who pursue peace, happiness, friendship and harmony come to know: knowledge is everything ."
Chancellor Sunburst looked out into the darkness of the lecture hall, trying to see the audience behind the glare of the stage lights. Even without being able to see their eyes, he knew from experience that he had them where he needed them; another class of first year students, young minds set on the right track for Starlight to mould and prepare.
He took off his glasses, and wiped them on his cloak.
"Knowledge. Is. Everything. "
At this speed, at this altitude, the air looks like nothing else in the world, somehow visible for a split second as it whips past her head. She curses the imperfect seal formed by her goggles; too fast now to lift a hoof and straighten them, the wind holding her forelegs up in place, stiff in front of her... she'll have to just live with the feeling of being pushed backwards, the sting in her tear ducts, and fix it on the next pass.
Faster.
Rainbow Dash grits her teeth inside the warm flight suit, stretched tight over her muzzle. She's leaving a rainbow trail behind her, she can sense it even if she can't see it, beyond a tiny change in the light reflecting off the outer surface of those damned goggles.
Faster, Dash.
The cloud is too far away to see, but it will be past in a blink. Or, it would be, if she could blink.
And then, just as it starts zooming into view, about to loom impossibly large in her vision... it stops, almost stock still.
Some high-speed flyers can make this happen, a moment where everything clicks into perfect harmony, where their minds clear so completely and charge through so many thousands of subconscious calculations that it feels like the whole world is in slow motion, shapes and colors blurring, the air curving around their wings and hooves, huge, easy swings in direction with the tiniest change in heading.
Rainbow Dash isn't quite one of those flyers. Not exactly. Even after all these years, she can't make it happen on command. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, and she'll crash into something, hopefully something soft, sometimes something not, and she'll spend the weekend soaking in a hot bath. And Applejack, sponge in mouth, tending gently to her scrapes and bruises.
She wobbles slightly in mid-air.
But sometimes, when she really concentrates... sometimes it happens for her anyway, and then it seems like things slow down for her, more than they ever did for anypony else, and everything becomes easy, way easier than it did for anypony else, and she can do anything. It's how she got to be the greatest Wonderbolt of all time, to pull off move after move after move, and she still doesn't entirely know how she does it.
The best times, though... the best times, she thinks, are the times when it doesn't happen, when everything's whipping past - at the special kind of lightning speed known only to the fastest of the fast, the kind of speed where, by the time you see something, you've already hit it - and she pulls the move off anyway, because she's Rainbow Dash.
Not today. Today, she'll settle for just being awesome, rather than feeling her life flash before her eyes.
Although this one might be a challenge, she allows herself to think, as she begins to roll, spinning upside down, over and over... and spinning, and spinning, like a shot from a rifled cannon, the horizon spinning with her, the ground and the clouds above and below and below and above.
C'mon. Dig deep. Just a little more speed. Faster.
Scootaloo wants her to do a multiple barrel roll right at the moment she breaks the sound barrier, drilling a neat furrow along the top surface of a cumulonimbus cloud, and then letting the rainbow shockwave tear the whole cloud in half in a perfect straight line, right along the perforation, like a giant mid-air iceberg effortlessly breaking in two. It'll be so fast and so clinical that nopony will even see what just happened, until the two halves are drifting apart and they show the replay on the big screen in slow motion, at which point she'll only hear the growing applause in the distance, because she'll already be lining up a return pass to stitch them back together again.
It's ridiculously difficult, and needlessly dangerous... which is to say, it's a classic Scootaloo move, designed for the top Wonderbolts to scare the crowd as much as to thrill them with their skills. The kind of move that got Scootaloo laughed out of the Academy's aerial choreography team, until their crowds quadrupled in size overnight.
It's gonna look awesome.
Here comes the cloud. Check angle of approach. Adjust half a degree. Keep spinning.
...faster!
"Ma'am... Miss! You can't go in there!"
"The hell I cain't," snorted Applejack, trotting towards the huge, ornate doors of the throne room, as the Sergeant of the Royal Guard lit her horn and prepared to point her spear at the angry orange intruder.
"Outta mah way now, ya hear?" repeated Applejack, angrily.
The sergeant stood her ground, jaw set firmly, eyes locked on Applejack, without a word.
"...If'n you'd be so kind as to step on aside there, soldier?"
"Back away, miss," said the sergeant, lowering her spear and frowning as her colleague began to draw closer.
"As ah believe ah already said to yer friend over there," Applejack motioned to the nervous-looking young stallion in his smartly-pressed uniform, "...ah need to see Princess Twilight."
"Yes, and as I said to you, you can't go in there. Now, back off, or I'll have to arrest you."
The doors slowly swung open, a gleam of sunlight glinting off a polished helmet as Gallus poked his head out to investigate the commotion.
"Stand down, guards," came a loud, authoratitive voice from behind him, startling every creature in the hallway. Every creature except one.
"...Howdy, Princess," said Applejack, removing her hat and bowing in a simple curtsey.
"Hello, Applejack," said Princess Twilight, emerging from the opening doors, wings raised in ceremonial position, in her full, gleaming royal regalia. "It's nice to see you."
"Wh... Applejack?!" , said the sergeant, eyes wide, suddenly sheepish.
"Pleased to make yer acquaintance," nodded Applejack, straightening her hat back atop her head, as the sergeant blinked and stammered.
"...I'm sorry, milady, I didn't... If you'd just have... Your Majesty, I'm sorry, I didn't know who she was!"
"That's quite alright, Magnolia," smiled Twilight, kindly. "I appreciate you looking out for my safety like this. I'm lucky to have such dedicated guards."
"Ain't no hard feelins there," said Applejack, with a disarming grin. "Ah got kinda riled up there. You're doin' a fine job."
Magnolia blinked and shuffled and stood to attention. Twilight smiled again, and turned back to Applejack.
"I can see you have something urgent you want to talk about," she said, with a look of concern. "Would you like to come through?"
Applejack nodded.
"The doors, please, Gallus," said Twilight, and Gallus followed the two ponies back into the throne room, pulling the heavy doors closed behind him as the hoofsteps and murmur of conversation disappeared into the background.
There was a pause. The air hung heavy in the restored quiet of the corridor.
"...I'm going to be in trouble for that," said Magnolia, flustered, looking up at the stained glass window directly above her. The likeness was unmistakeable, now that she was looking for it. "I feel so stupid! I didn't even... I mean, I've never seen her except in pictures. And she wasn't what I was expecting. But the hat, and the shawl... I didn't get to check her cutie mark, but I should have known... I thought she was just some drunken pony from the sticks!"
She looked down at her armored hooves.
"...And she looked so old ," she muttered.
"...I knew it was Applejack all along," said the stallion, unconvincingly, before Sergeant Magnolia's withering look told him to pipe down.
The two pegasi sat on the cloud-hill, behind a row of rolled up cloud balls serving as makeshift sandbags, next to an impossible tree that had somehow been planted there two thousand feet in the air. The Captain sat almost entirely still, the only sign of movement an occasional tilt of the head as she tracked her target through her binoculars, her megaphone sitting unused beside her. The other pegasus pawed nervously at the strap of her goggles, her fidgeting studiously ignored by the concentrating Captain.
"I don't think she can make it," murmured Barley Barrel, wincing as she stared up into the sky. "I think you might finally have pushed her too far."
"She can make it," said the Captain, not turning around, continuing to track the rainbow blur across the sky through her binoculars. "Thinking she can't do it is what's gonna drive the audience wild."
"But she's so... uh..."
"Choose your words carefully there, airpony," growled the Captain.
"She's so... experienced ", said Barley. "She does less guest spots every year, she spends more time away on the ground, and she's, well... She's not getting any younger."
The Captain lowered her binoculars, and turned to look at Barley over her aviator shades, eyebrow raised.
"She's still Crash. The best Wonderbolt there's ever been. Even now, she can pull off moves nopony else in the compound can do - or that nopony can do until they've watched her prove it can be done, anyway."
"But, Captain..."
"I trust her with my life, airpony. Whether you trust her with yours is up to you, but you gotta remember she already saved it a dozen times whether you trusted her or not. And the day she's finished will be the day she tells us she's finished. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," said Barley.
"Things... Things ain't been great recently, Twilight."
Applejack cast a nervous glance at Gallus, who made an ostentatious show of standing to attention, showing off how much he definitely wasn't listening.
"Dashie... uh, ah mean, Rainbow... Well, she's meant to be takin' it easy. But she ain't doin' anything of the sort."
She cleared her throat before continuing.
"Feels like she's spendin' more time with the Wonderbolts than she did when she was Captain. And ah know all the other wives and husbands and marefriends and coltfriends, they're always goin' on about how they're all right proud of their Wonderbolts for makin' Equestria safe an' bringin' so much joy to everypony young and old, and ah know ah'm meant to feel that way too, but... well, Twi, ah don't . Ah did mah worryin', watchin' her doin' her stunts and crashin' and all. Ah thought we could move on."
Applejack pawed at the immaculately-polished tiled floor with her scuffed hoof.
"It ain't that ah want to stop her doin' what she loves. It's what makes her Rainbow Dash, ain't it?", she said with a smile, though still refusing to meet Twilight's kindly gaze. "But ah just thought... it's been so long now, ah thought we deserved some time alone. An' then she gets called away again, an' then ah get home and our cottage ain't even open because there's a great big ol' tent coverin' it up."
Applejack looked up, and fixed Twilight with a glare.
"An' the pony who put up that tent, the pony who's lookin' to lock me outta mah own home, shows me a letter that says she can do just that, just as she pleases, pretty as a picture."
Applejack frowned, still not looking away from Twilight.
"An' that letter she shows me? It's signed by none other than you, Twilight."
Twilight nodded in understanding.
"Applejack..."
Applejack held up a hoof. "Made me feel mighty foolish, that did. So, beggin' your pardon, Twi... Princess ... but ah'm feelin' like you owe me some kinda explanation. "
Gallus visibly tensed, while Twilight looked down for a moment, deep in thought.
"As mah friend ," finished Applejack.
The leaves on the mid-air trees started to shake, then the branches, and then the transplanted earth beneath their hooves began to tremble as a low, rumbling noise grew more and more intense, getting closer and closer...
"Here she comes," said the Captain, not flinching.
"Should we, uh... you know... take cover?" asked Barley, alarmed.
"Not a chance," said the Captain, binoculars still in hoof, eyes still fixed on the approaching rainbow blur.
"She's getting closer..."
"Yep."
"Captain... she's not gonna make it... she's got to pull up..."
You're not going to make it.
Of course you're going to make it.
You aren't. Too fast. Too high. Spin too irregular. You're gonna crash. You're gonna crash, and you're gonna die.
No, you stupid foal. You've done way more dangerous stunts than this.
Yeah, when you were twenty years younger.
No. You can land this. Think of her.
Yeah, think of her. Except that she's not here, is she? You always do this. You go where she can't easily follow, again. You leave her on her own, again. Wonder why it feels like you're pushing her away? Because that's exactly what you're doing. Pushing her away. Further and further.
No. Imagine she's watching. Imagine she's right there on that cloud, just like when she first came to watch you. Yeah, that's right, you feel that? You feel that adrenaline rush? Feel your heart swell up? Remembering how proud she was? How proud you were to show off for her? The showers afterwards? Yeah. Good. Good, Dash. Imagine she's right there.
But she's NOT right there. How could you do this to her? This is the dumbest thing you've ever done. She's the best thing that ever happened to you and you're risking everything. You won't get away with this. It'll go wrong. It'll go wrong like every other time you ever tried to come up with good ideas on your own. Except now you won't have her to help pick everything up again.
Shut up, alright? Just... just shut up. You need to concentrate.
There's no time left.
"You know how much I care for you and Rainbow. I hope you do, after all these years. But the search for knowledge..."
Princess Twilight tailed off, sucking in her breath, and letting it out slowly.
"You have to understand, Applejack," she continued. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn more about Equestria's past. It's the palaeontological find of the century. Perhaps of all time."
"But, Princess..."
"When I call it a once in a lifetime opportunity, Applejack, I'm not just using a figure of speech. There are ponies who lived their whole lives writing books about the chance they might live to see this day, for themselves, or for their mothers or grandfathers or great-grand-ponies who had the same dreams. I grew up reading those books. I can't deny the researchers at the museum the chance to finally live those dreams just because my friend lives nearby and it'll inconvenience her. I can't. "
"Twilight... I'm askin' you for just a little more time. Just a little more time, is all."
"...I'm sorry, Applejack," said Twilight, shaking her head. "I promised Petunia at least a month."
"Ah... Ah don't believe it," said Applejack, and the look of betrayal on her face was enough to cause Twilight to wince in sympathy.
"Applejack," said the Princess, not without kindness. "You, of all ponies, should understand that sometimes friends need to tell friends things they don't want to hear. As a true friend, I couldn't lie to you."
"But, Twilight... ah mean, Princess... our cottage! Me 'an Dashie, we need this! We've been lookin' forward to it for moons now. You can't just..."
"I'm truly sorry that I couldn't give you the answer you came here hoping for, Applejack," said Twilight, closing her eyes as she bowed her head in sad resolve. "But I'm afraid this decision is final."
There was a pause. Applejack felt her eyes welling up with tears, and she grit her teeth and willed those tears right back into her uncooperative head, and looked up, ready to meet the Princess' eyes, ready to stare her down if need be.
The Princess didn't flinch.
The pause went on.
Gallus cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Finally, Applejack took off her hat, bowing politely. She may have lost this one, but that was no reason to forget her manners.
"...Ah understand," said Applejack, and she turned to leave, walking slowly out of the throne room past the two saluting guards.
Gallus gave Princess Twilight a look, not quite understanding what had happened, not quite wanting to believe this was the way the conversation between his two former professors was going to end.
"I don't believe it..."
Barley climbed back to her hooves, out of the pile of scattered cloud-ball sandbags she'd knocked over in her eagerness to dive out of the way, and looked in astonishment at the furrow Dash had cleaved in the cloud in front of them.
The sides of the newly-carved groove looked blackened and razor-sharp, as if cut by a red-hot sword, with tiny rainbow embers still fizzing like little miniature lightning storms along the seared edges. Slowly, the cloud peeled apart, like two islands suddenly separated and floating away from each other, all under Barley's gawping, blinking gaze.
Captain Scootaloo lowered her binoculars for the first time, and turned to look at her, peering over her usual ever-present aviator shades, fixing Barley in her glare.
"Do you remember the first time you saw her fly, airpony?"
"Sure I do, ma'am," said Barley, blinking rapidly. "I was in her fan club. Or, well, a fan club we made up for her. Back in my home town. We wrote her a letter, me and my brother. She called us Junior Wonderbolts... Did a routine with us."
"Sounds familiar. But do you remember how you felt , the first time you watched her?"
"Yeah," said Barley. "I mean, yes ma'am. Like I couldn't trust my eyes any more. Like anything could be possible now. Like all the stuff I'd ever read about might be true. Like a pony could do anything."
The Captain nodded, with a knowing smile.
"That feeling, airpony? The feeling you had back then? The feeling you just felt again right now? That's what it means to put your trust in Rainbow Dash. And that's why ten thousand ponies are gonna turn up to watch you do what she just did, and put your poster on their bedroom walls, and tell their friends at school about the impossible thing they saw."
She grinned, and raised an eyebrow. "Because now you've seen it can be done. And I know I can trust my best flier when I say you're not gonna let yourself get beat by a fifty year old pony who lives ground-bound on a farm. Do we understand each other, Barley?"
"Yes, Captain," beamed Barley Barrel.
"Good. Now, once she's done part two, and stitched this all back together again, I'm gonna need you to get up there and give me twenty laps."
Scootaloo looked at the scattered cloud-balls littered all over their half of the newly-bisected cloud, as the rumbling began again, signalling Rainbow's approach for the second part of the routine.
"...And then, you can be in charge of helping clear up this mess you made."
Twilight looked at Gallus, and then at the slowly trudging form of Applejack as she walked towards the throne room doors, head bowed in sadness.
Gallus watched, as the Princess thought to herself for a moment. Bit her lip. Looked up at the windows, at the ceiling. Down at the floor. At Gallus. At Applejack. At Gallus again. At her own reflection, in the mirror-polished golden horseshoes on her hooves. He watched as, more than once, she took a breath, raised her hoof as if to say something... and then seemingly think better of it and stop herself.
And, finally, just in time, just as Applejack was about to nudge the doors open... finally, she couldn't stop herself.
"Applejack!" , Twilight called out, hurriedly, all regal reserve and poise suddenly gone.
Just for a moment, Applejack heard the same voice she'd heard all those years ago, the voice of a stiff, awkward lavender unicorn, calling out to her for help as she dangled over a cliff edge in the Everfree Forest.
Twilight Sparkle.
Her friend.
"Applejack?", Twilight called out again, and this time Applejack slowly turned to look at her.
"I was thinking... Let's meet up soon?," said Twilight, almost pleadingly. "Not for our monthly summit... Not for work. Just the two of us. We can go out for donuts, or maybe you could bring some apple cider. Just... away from work, for a little while. You and me."
A pause.
"...Like old times," Twilight added, seemingly hoping for a reaction that didn't come.
There was another pause.
"...Ah'll see," murmured Applejack, sadly. "Ah don't know when ah'm next like to be round these parts. But, uh... It's always good to see ya..."
She paused once more, and then tipped her hat again.
"...Princess ," she finished, and sloped out of the throne room.
Twilight and Gallus watched her trudging sadly away, Magnolia closing up the massive doors behind her with a resounding oaken thud.
"Gallus?", asked Twilight, eyes not moving from the closed door.
"Yes, your Majesty?", said Gallus, still standing to attention.
"...I'm going to have to make that up to her."
Author's Note
I remembered how much I enjoyed writing Red/Yellow , and wanted to do something else involving lots of intercutting and different tenses. Also, if you don't now have the song stuck in your head, you're a stronger pony than me.
