She sits under the apple tree, mug of apple cider in one hoof, and lets the sunlight bathe over her. She wants it so badly - the warmth, the rays of light. Something to dry her coat.
The morning fog, however, has other ideas. It hovers around her like a thick blanket of asphyxiating cold.
She sighs.
Another moment passes in silence, before she hears wing flaps that reduce to hoofsteps that reduce to a soft padding on the ground, accompanied by the clinking sound of glass and plates.
“Hey, AJ.”
She doesn’t reply.
“I… I brought breakfast.”
Applejack looks to her left, delivering a weary look upon her rainbow-maned intruder, then relents. She pats a solid patch of grass next to her. “It’s dry ‘round this side. Come on over,” she beckons.
Rainbow obliges. She rests her hooves on the ground, then sets the plates out next to her.
Applejack notices the messy mane on Rainbow’s head, the swollen eyebags, and the hopeful, silent look on her face. She watches as Rainbow’s eyes move to the pancakes on the plate, then back at her, pleading, almost.
“Sorry, Sugarcube. Ah’m… mighty tired this morning.” She shoots a wispy smile.
It takes a while for the nod to arrive.
Applejack returns to her loneliness in silence, looking over the barn houses, buildings, and apple trees that make up Sweet Apple Acres. Her eyes gloss over the unnecessary details once, then twice over, but she can’t help but let her wandering gaze return to those places. The planks scattered on the ground, the outhouse with a shattered roof, and the signs of water damage over by the chicken coops.
She sighs. All temporary nuisances for now, but the farm would need to go through closures, and that would mean missing out on the Town Fair.
“So. The storm, huh,” calls a voice.
“Eeyup.”
“How… how bad?”
Applejack lets go of the breath she didn’t even know she was holding. “It’s… a mess. Coops are flooded, real bad. The barnyard’s all thick as mud, so the wagons can’t get over. Not to mention the roof inside’s all busted up. Outhouse’s broken. And… the foundations of the house got wet and all.”
“The foundations?”
“Yeah. If… if water damage gets to the foundations, then… it’s an expensive repair. We could get the moisture out in time, salvage what remains. Or it might just not hold up in time. Ah… don’t know.”
Rainbow Dash sits in silence for a moment, absorbing the words. “I’m… I’m sorry, AJ. I - I should’ve done more, I could’ve-”
“It’s okay.” She sighs. “When ya live this close to the Everfree Forest… wild storms can just pop up and ruin your day. You… you know that."
She considers leaving it unsaid, but it just cuts deeper into her heart.
"It’s… it’s not a problem Ah want’cha worryin’ about.”
She doesn't dare look at her partner.
"...why?"
"Dash… you know my reasons-"
"N- no." Her voice cracks. "You- you keep on telling me-"
"Not to worry about it, and when Ah say so, it's final!" Applejack's voice startles the birds, and the rustling of leaves accompany the shrill piercing of Applejack's shout. She tries to block away the only other sound in the foggy morning - short, staggered sobs, and a staccato of choked up breathing.
"How many times do Ah have to tell ya-"
"That's the thing! You never do! You never tell me anything anymore!" Rainbow matches the volume with a loudness of her own. "When was the last time you came to me, Applejack? When?"
Applejack finally looks left to acknowledge her partner. They lock eyes, a weary anger in one pair and cold daggers out the other, and suddenly a sinking feeling sets in. Applejack's attention drifts to the glinting flowing down Rainbow Dash's cheeks, the pained look on her face, and the bandage on her left shoulder, now stained by free falling tears.
A split second is all it takes. Applejack tears her gaze away from her partner, but she fails to keep a choked gasp from escaping, nor can she stop the escapees that blur her vision and trickle a wetness down her face.
All the tar-laced words ready to come out of her mouth lodge themselves in her throat - thick, suffocating - never to see the light of day.
“You come home from the fields, or from the market stall, late at night, and immediately head off. Everytime I try to help, you snap, but you and I know you- you can’t do this all on your own! You can’t!”
She looks away, but the piercing voice surrounds her anyway.
“You overwork yourself, but you pretend like it’s not happening! It’s like the only thing in your head these days is the farm - farm, farm, farm - and the only way I can grab your attention--”
“-don’t you dare say it-”
“-is to say his name-”
“Dash, Ah swear by Celestia if you say it-”
“Big Mac is gone, Applejack!”
Applejack’s eyes widen at the sound of his name. Immediately, she turns around, shouting, “Leave him out of it! He ain’t got nothin’ to do with-”
“Then why ignore me?!” Rainbow Dash moves to stand, her right hoof pointing at herself. “Why ignore your family, your cousins, Sugar Belle, Apple Bloom, Scoots, me? Your wife!”
“Well, what the hell do ya wanna hear from me?!”
“The truth, AJ!” Rainbow Dash’s plea goes straight for Applejack’s heart. “I want to hear the truth from the Element of Honesty! Just once!”
The irony of the whole situation sends a pang through Applejack’s heart. She looks at her partner, now stood up, hoof pointing in a straight line, a spear trained straight towards her orange fur and her chest. The morning fog and the disheveled mane cast a shadow over her eyes, but Applejack can still see a fierce storm underneath.
“Just once, AJ.” Rainbow Dash looks up, and glints of morning light enter Applejack’s eye, reflected by the glassy irises and the suspended tears. “Just once.”
The deafening silence returns, this time punctuated by the choking sobs of the two mares.
Applejack turns to look at the ground and lingers in their presence for a moment. She can’t see her face, but imagines herself touching her anyway.
“Ah’m… sorry.”
She inches closer.
“Ah’m… so sorry, Dash. Ah-”
“Are you? Really?” Rainbow Dash squints her eyes. “Because it doesn’t seem that-”
“Ah’m sc- scared, Dash!” The crack in her own voice catches her by surprise. Applejack draws a deep breath in, feels it waver and break, then continues.
“Ah’m scared. Scared about the farm, about the family, about the debt. Ah’m scared Ah can’t find us enough to feed, Ah’m scared none of it’ll work out, and Ah’m scared - for you!”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you! Who else would Ah be worried about as much, Rainbow Dash? You’re supposed to be retired! We’re supposed to be out there, somewhere livin’ in bliss, but here we are!” The tears begin to flow again. “And- and when Ah see you flyin’ around, tryin’ to fight off a wild storm like ya did last night, Ah tell ya to stop, ‘cause- ‘cause Ah don’t wanna lose anyone else! Not to this stupid, worthless farm!”
Rainbow Dash tries to respond, but she finds herself speechless, words unable and unwilling to come out.
“You… you keep on telling me everything’s gonna be just fine,” Applejack continues, “but it ain’t. When Ah’m around ya, ya make me feel like all the problems will go away, but they won’t. You know they won’t. And- and Ah don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing-”
“Applejack, I-”
“Save it, Dash.” Applejack looks up at her, and they lock gazes full of blame. “You want to hear somethin’ from me? There it is. Just… just tell me one thing.”
“Wh-”
“Tell me that things aren’t fine. Tell me that Ah ain’t goin’ insane - tell me that everything that Ah’ve been doin’ means somethin’.” The tears flow freely down Applejack’s face.
“Say it. Say we have a problem.”
“I- I…”
Rainbow Dash’s head slowly turns to the ground, mouth slightly parted. Her eyes dart everywhere but straight forward at the mare pleading to her. Instead, her front hooves lose all life, and she buckles over, falling onto the dirt with a muted thud.
Applejack watches her partner fall, then looks away, too.
They sit under the apple tree for what feels like an eternity, and they let the morning breeze drown out their sobs.
An eternity passes.
“I’m sorry.” It’s her turn to apologize. Rainbow Dash looks up to face Applejack, and finds her partner following suit.
“I… I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“Ah do.”
“I- I should’ve known, I should’ve asked-”
“No.” Applejack looks away. Momentarily.
“Ah… should’ve told ya sooner.”
The chuckle makes her heart skip a beat, and she turns back to find an outstretched hoof. Her gaze travels upwards to Rainbow Dash’s face, whose weary expression is offset by a small smile.
“Come on.”
She accepts the invitation with her left hoof, and immediately finds herself being pulled forward into a tight embrace. She lets go of her breath, and hugs back even tighter.
The hug feels soft, warm. They rest their heads on each other’s shoulders, brush their cheeks against the other’s fur.
The fog begins to lift.
“Ah… don’t know what to do, Rainbow,” Applejack whispers. “Do ya know what to do?”
Rainbow Dash shakes her head, hooves petting the ground. “I don’t but… we’ll get through this. Together.”
“So much is broken, though.” Applejack’s gaze can’t help but turn to the faraway view, eyes hovering over the damaged buildings. “The barn. The outhouse.”
Rainbow’s gaze follows for a bit, but then returns to her partner. “You. Me.”
“…us.”
Rainbow Dash sighs, then turns her head away from the sight of the broken down buildings. “Do… do you want to talk about it?”
“About… what?”
“Everything. Or, a- anything, actually.”
Applejack lets the question linger in her heart. Then, softer than the wind, “Ah… miss Big Mac.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
Rainbow Dash sets her hooves on the frayed yellow mane, brushing it with gentle, soft movements. “Me too, AJ.”
The sun’s rays begin to break through.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispers.
A chuckle. “You know Ah was gonna ask that.”
“‘Course I did.” Then, after a pause, “it wasn’t anypony’s fault. You know that, right?”
Applejack sighs. “You make it sound so easy.”
The warmth of the sun begins to envelop them.
“The fog’s liftin’.”
“Oh.” Rainbow Dash looks around, then nods. “Yeah.”
“The storm’s… gotten to a lot more than just the barn and the farm, you know.”
Rainbow raises her eyebrows. “You mean…?”
“Just… us. Our foundations. What we are.”
Rainbow Dash takes a moment to process that statement. The sigh that comes out as the words dawn over her sets the morning into silence. A long, heavy pause punctuates the air.
Applejack takes another deep breath, trying to stifle the tiny yet ever-present sobs. “You know… Ah… thought Ah would be losin’ somethin’... somepony else this mornin’.”
Rainbow Dash stands still for a moment. “The fog?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.” Then, “pfft.”
They let go.
Rainbow Dash moves one hoof over to Applejack’s chin, and gently turns her head to face each other. She wipes the tearmarks off Applejack’s face, then looks straight into those green eyes.
Rainbow leans in and delivers a quick kiss.
“I’m the Element of Loyalty.” Her smile carries a gentle, grieving acknowledgment with it. The deep green staring back reminds her of the first time they kissed - still deep as ever. “I would never leave you behind.”
“Ah know.”
A thought slips into her head. “Do… do you remember our vows?”
Applejack nods. “Through fire and flood…”
“…for better or worse…”
“…’til death do us part.” Applejack smiles as she receives another quick peck.
After a short silence, Rainbow Dash giggles. “You know what?”
“What?”
“No other place on the field was dry. How’d you find this patch?”
Applejack crosses her eyes. “Ah dug up the ground to get it dry, ya’ airhead.”
“And you made enough space for two?” The giggling turns to a stifled laughter, still interspersed with a little sobbing. “That’s- that’s sweet-”
Clang! A crashing sound drives them back, and they turn to look at the source of the cacophony. Beyond the fog’s wandering blanket, they see a plume of dust rise from a newly collapsed hole on the house’s tin roof.
Applejack’s eyes glaze over the damage. “Do… do ya think we can fix it?”
Rainbow Dash holds the plate of pancakes she brought earlier on one hoof, and feels the food with the other. It’s cold. She sets it down again. “One hell of a hole. I think we can… but not alone.”
“Together?”
“Together.”
They watch as the final wisps of fog clear up, allowing rays of sunlight to greet the grass and flowers on the ground. They bask in the sun’s warmth, and for a moment, everything feels fine - even if they both know that nothing is as fine as it ever seems.
But after all… foggy mornings don’t last forever.
The sun rises.
