Pillow thoughts

Chapter 6
Bales of hay

Rainbow blinked a few times. A few more.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really,” replied Twilight.

“Then why did you want us both to come with you?” she asked, feeling more and more, well, stupid.

“Tristle-Tosser has a very thick root, duh, it grows in a cave. I needed Applejack’s strength... Also, I wanted to make sure I searched everywhere, including in high places. That’s why I thought I needed your wings. Turns out, this cave just has very tall areas, nothing grows on the walls. Well, except diamonds and gems”, she explained. “I’ve never been so far down into the cave, I just wanted to be prepared. Sorry for, uh, omitting the entire truth?”

Rainbow sat dawn. The answer was... logical. And simple. No conspiracy behind it.

“Wait, ah’m confused”, mumbled AJ.

“Join the club”, replied Rainbow, scratching her head. “So, you really did trip, didn’t you?”

“Ah told you, I tripped on the cloud”

“Well, actually”, intervened Twilight, “you might have tripped over the brown bag that Rainbow left in the middle of the room”.

The unicorn and the earth pony turned to the pegasus, as if expecting some sort of explanation. Rainbow just looked at them, confused and troubled. Maybe it was all in her head... but why was it there in the first place?

“Why would ya think that somepony would try to hook us up in the first place, Rainbow?” asked Applejack, measuring her words carefully. She noticed the look on the blue pony’s face and she knew something was... not quite right, besides the entire confusion.

“Just... back off, AJ, please... just... I’m tired”, replied Rainbow, softly, and started walking a bit further from her friends. She slowly sat down with her back towards them, placing her head on her hooves and closing her eyes.

She didn’t say another word all night.

Silent, the other two returned to their initial places. Despite the somewhat uncomfortable ground, Twilight soon fell asleep. Applejack kept looking at her pegasus friend, while thoughts kept dancing in her mind.

“Rainbow doesn’t really like being wrong”, she thought to herself, “but there’s somethin’ more that bothered her this time. It’s like... she was disappointed that she was wrong”.

Applejack drew her hat over her eyes.

“Ah may not understand her all the time... but ah’m quite sure she doesn’t get it herself right now. It’s all one big mess”

Why would she think somepony was trying to hook them up? Who would do that... and why? These were all just a bunch of awkward and uncomfortable coincidences. Still, Dash seemed to be quite affected by all of them.

Applejack rose her head and looked at the blue pony again. Rainbow was sleeping.

“Maybe all these thoughts stirred up somethin’. Ah can’t say I wasn’t shaken these past weeks mahself... not to mention now”, she continued her thoughts. “Thinkin’ doesn’t help... Talkin’ doesn’t help... what else can we do?”

She blushed at the next thought that came to mind. “That’s just silly...”, she concluded, turning to her side and closing her eyes.

“That could make things even worse...”

***

The wind was furious that morning, as Rainbow opened her eyes. It was cold, again. The fire burnt out a long time ago and she was surrounded by darkness. She looked up and saw the light coming through those small holes in the ceiling.

After a while, her eyes got used to the darkness and she vaguely started seeing where her friends were. She walked over to Applejack and started poking her with her hoof.

“AJ... hey, AJ, wake up... it’s morning”

“Hm, wha--?”

Applejack yawned hard and opened her eyes. Rainbow then woke up Twilight and gave them both a couple of minutes to stretch and become fully aware of their surroundings.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better”, replied Twilight. “I’d like to try out the spell once or twice before all three of us get out of here”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped back to give Twilight some room. Her horn lit up and one second later she appeared a few feet away. She repeated the process until she was satisfied with her accuracy.

“Okay, I think I’m ready...” she said. “Teleporting three ponies will be difficult but I think I can handle it. My head doesn’t hurt anymore...but I am a bit dizzy—“

“—and weakened from lack of food”, completed Rainbow. “Either way, we have to try or else we’ll be stuck here forever”.

Twilight nodded and all three ponies gathered in the middle of the area. She looked at the ceiling, then back at her friends. She closed her eyes and her horn started to glow... a quick flash of light and the ponies ended up hanging for their lives.

***

“Twilight!!” shouted Applejack, trying to locate her friends. “Where are we?? What did ya do!?”

“Applejack!! Rainbow!!” the purple unicorn shouted, sitting on her belly in the cold snow.

The wind was blowing furiously, almost knocking the ponies off the mountain edge. The snow storm was not making things easier.

“Ah’m slippin’!!”, cried AJ, as she was desperately trying to find something to hold on to. “Rainbow!! Where are you!?”

“Here!!” yelled Rainbow Dash who was crawling towards her friends. “The wind is too strong!”

“Twilight, teleport us somewhere else! Now!”

Twilight let out a grunt, “I’m too weak!” yelled the unicorn in frustration. “We could end up in mid-air!”

“We won’t last a minute here!”, Applejack replied, looking around. “Rainbow, you’ll have to fly us out of here, one by one! Do a fly-around and look for a safe spot!”

“I can’t!!”, shouted the blue pegasus, sinking her hooves as deep as she could in the snow. “The wind is too strong! I don’t think I can handle it!”

“Rainbow, now is not the time to—WHOAH!”, Applejack lost her grip and went flying into the nearest boulder, on the edge of what seemed to be a huge gap as her hat flew off into the white blizzard.

Dash didn’t know what to do. It was too dangerous... but they could slip at any moment and fall to their deaths.

“Rainbow!!” shouted Applejack, trying to get up on all fours again.

The snow was not deep enough to provide any grip for Twilight either, so she started slipping as well, uncontrollably.

“Rainbow, please!!” she shouted.

Dash looked at her friends and closed her eyes. “I can’t!! ...I’m... I’m scared!! I don’t know if I can handle it!”

“You CAN! You’re the best flyer!!” Applejack yelled, trying to cover Twilight’s scream as she was slowly sliding towards the edge of the cliff.

Rainbow was just unable to move, paralyzed by fear. She couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her, the blizzard was too unpredictable... she couldn’t just take off into the air and hope for the best. Applejack had to do something.

“Come on, AJ! Think, think, think!” she kept saying to herself.

Then it hit her. She knew what to do. It was a long shot... a very long shot... and if it didn’t work, it might just be the stupidest thing she ever did. It could also save their lives.

Slowly but surely, she started crawling on her belly, towards Rainbow. The pegasus’ hooves were starting to slide as well and she looked terrified.

“Rainbow”, started Applejack, “You are the best flyer in Equestria. Ah’ve seen you fly, ah know what you can do!”.

She approached her, step by step as Twilight reached the boulder that AJ was holding on to a few seconds ago. Applejack kept going.

“Rainbow.... save us!”, she reached the pegasus, who opened her eyes. “Rainbow... save me!”, and with that, Applejack gave Dash a quick lick on the cheek.

SCHWOMPF! Rainbow’s wings expanded and the next thing she knew, the wind blasted her away like a parachute. It took only half a second for her to gain control over the flight, and a few more seconds to adjust to the speed and dynamics the blizzard was throwing at her.

From up there she could see a clearing not far away underneath.

She dashed back toward Applejack.

“No, get Twilight first!! I’m good for a few more minutes!”

Rainbow grabbed Twilight and told her to hold on. She then quickly glided towards the clearing. The wind was still blowing hard, but at least there were no gaps here. Once the purple pony was safe, Dash flew back towards Applejack. She reached her just in time.

“Hold on to me”

AJ wrapped her front hooves around Rainbow’s neck and her legs around the pegasus’ waist. When Dash was certain AJ had a good grip, she glided towards safety with the orange pony.

They both landed near Twilight and all three ponies took a few seconds to recover.

“Thanks, Rainbow... Thanks Twi...”, said Applejack, after catching her breath.

“What are you thanking me for?!”, asked the purple unicorn. “I almost killed us. Twice!”

“Hey, ya got us out of that cave... by the way, what happened?”

“I lost control over the spell... I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”, Twilight replied.

“Hey, it’s okay, sugarcube. We’re safe now. We’re all safe”, said Applejack, stomping the ground with a hoof to prove her point.

“Yeah, it’s important that we’re out of that cave. That was the real danger, Twi...” continued RD, trying to make her feel better. “Besides, if this was indeed your plan to get AJ and me together, I must say, you seriously need to re-think your strategy!”

Despite what they’ve been through and the fact that they were cold and hungry, the ponies started laughing. It’s been a while and they needed it.

After Dash scouted their surroundings and located Ponyville in the distance, the trio started their not-so-long, not-short-either journey home.

***

“Are ya sure you’ll be alright?”

“Yes, Applejack... relax, both of you! You’re worse than my parents!”, replied Twilight, giggling. “I’ll just take it easy for a few days... too bad for the Tristle-Tosser—“

“If you ever mention that plant again, I’ll burn down your library”, interrupted Rainbow, making her friends laugh. “Why are you laughing? I’m serious.”

“See you tomorrow, girls... thanks... and sorry, again.”, concluded the unicorn, waving to her friends and closing the door of her treehouse.

Applejack and Rainbow started walking towards the farm. They were both tired, but glad everything ended the way it did.

The sunset gave in to the night’s first stars as the dark purple horizon gave the surrounding trees and eerie but soft and relaxing glow. The birds were quiet and the wind settled down. All they could hear was the sound of their own hooves on the ground and the shy gusts of wind through the grass.

“AJ... umm—“

“You bit me, I licked you, we’re even, end of story”, the orange pony responded abruptly.

Dash pricked up her ears. “Heh, you are as freaked out by this as I am...”

“By what?”

“By this...all this... like nopony ever came close to you in a...you know... close way”

“Well”, started AJ, “nopony ever did. Ah’m far too busy to have time for dates... “

“You never went on a date?”

“Ah did... what ah meant to say was, ah want somepony who can run the farm with me, not get in the way of things. Y’all can dress as nice as you can, if ya can’t buck a tree, y’all are just wasting mah time”

Rainbow giggled as they continued walking on the muddy path. The sky was still gray and it looks like it definitely rained in Ponyville while they were gone. She looked at her friend, who looked tired. Her hooves were muddy, she lost her hat, her mane was a total disaster, (as Rarity would put it,) yet she was still beautiful. Rainbow didn’t know if that was a normal thought a friend should have but, after all they’ve been through, she didn’t care anymore.

“Sorry about your hat”

“Me too... but hey, splinters and dust, objects can be replaced.”

She took a few more steps, looking at the pegasus with the corner of her eye.

“What about you?”, the orange pony asked. “Anypony special?”

“Not really... I had a few crushes... nothing serious. At one time, there was this colt, named Blink. He was hitting on everypony around him, including me and Twilight. It was getting annoying so, after my third attempt to let him down easily, I had to buck him in the face”

Applejack stopped in the middle of the road. “Y’all did what now?!”

“Hahaha, kidding! I’m kidding! ...still he would’ve deserved it”, replied Rainbow.

“Besides being...uh...insistent, was there anythin’ else wrong with him?”, asked AJ as they started moving along.

“Not really... then again, nopony had anything wrong with them... they just couldn’t keep up with me. Nopony can beat me at, well, most stuff. And I’m not talking about competitions... I just don’t want to find somepony who’ll drag me down”

“Ah can.”

“You can what?”

“Beat you”, said Applejack, jokingly. When she saw that Rainbow was not sure how to take that joke, she quickly added: “Don’t get any funny ideas... Y’all are too lazy anyway to help me on the farm, haha!”

Rainbow smiled, or better yet, grinned. “Well, it’s not like you actually asked me to help out”

She was right. Applejack didn’t really think about this and, well, she wasn’t so sure about it either. Even so, it was... weird. What was she supposed to do? Start giving her chores so she can test her—

“Well, we’re here!”, Rainbow said, making AJ jump a little. “You okay?”

“Yeah, ah’m fine... just... thinking about stuff.”

“You’re kind of doing that a lot lately”, the blue pegasus continued. “Oh well, see ya AJ”. She opened her wings to take off.

“Wait, Rainbow...”

RD closed her wings and turned towards her. To be honest, she didn’t really want to leave so fast. She just figured it would’ve been for the best.

The ponies stared at each other. This was really...really...really silly. “She probably would refuse anyway”, AJ thought to herself. “So why is this so weird?”.

“Yes, AJ?”, replied Dash, taking a few steps towards her friend.

Applejack looked at the blue pegasus and remembered her words in the cave... the way she felt about her. She looked at Rainbow and saw in her eyes, beyond all the tiredness and the difficulties that had gotten to her lately. She was still a loyal friend, someone she could trust... someone that cared for her. She still looked after AJ and her safety and happiness, even if she clearly was curious if... maybe, just maybe...

AJ took a few steps towards her friend.

“What is she doing?”, thought Dash, but decided to just shut up and wait to see what happens.

Applejack looked into her dark magenta eyes and sighed. “Ah can’t believe I’m doing this”, she thought to herself, looking at the ground and then back at Dash.

The pegasus slowly leaned towards her friend... and AJ tried to gather the courage to do this. “Well”, she said to herself, “here goes nothin’”... she looked back at her friend and...

“Dash, could ya come by the farm tomorrow mornin’? Ah need yer help with moving some bales of hay”

• End of Chapter 6 -