What's wrong.....what's wrong.....what's wrong..... The words rang out in Applejack's mind. Those were the words she needed to hear. Those were the words she had been dying to have somepony ask her. Yet, the words were like a dagger. A dagger that cut through every emotional block she had set for herself. The sadness started to envelop her body. Slowly at first. but sobs soon started to wrack her entire being.

Rainbow Dash tried soothing words to calm Applejack down, but they were to no avail. Rainbow simply repeated herself. "Applejack...what's wrong? I want to....no I need to know so I can help you. Is it....is it what Fluttershy told you back there?"

Applejack could only nod. She was starting to calm down a little bit. "I...I....I...*hic*" Applejack spit it out as almost one word. "Iloveyourainbowdash."

Rainbow Dash was dumbfounded for a moment. She thought she just heard Applejack say she loved her. 'That's so...whoah...'

"Rainbow...Ah know yer goin' out with Fluttershy and all but...Ah wanna know....do you love me?" Applejack fought back the sobs enough to say this.

"Oh Applejack...I...I do love you...you are one of my best friends..but..I can't love you like that. I mean...you said it yourself...I'm with Fluttershy...I guess she just got to me first...I'm sorry...if it means anything, this is really painful for me to say...I just can't...I'm sorry..." Rainbow Dash was fighting back tears herself.

"O-Oh....Ah understand...but you give me too much credit...'got to me first'...Ah never had a shot in the first place..." Applejack was close to bursting with tears.

"Applejack...no...it's not like that...I-"

Rainbow was cut off by Applejack. "Go....leave...please...you've done enough already...go be with your mare...you deserve her..."

"But Applejack.."

"Go.."

"What?"

"Leave!"

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and then solemnly got up and started to fly back to the barn.

When Dash returned to the barn, she heard a very heated argument between Twilight and Rarity. Pinky Pie was cowering in the corner, shaking and crying. Fluttershy was trying to comfort Pinkie and didn't even notice Dash when she walked in. Nopony did.

"How could you think that!? You're supposed to be their friend! Why can't you just accept them!? Element of Generosity my flank!" Twilight shouted at Rarity. This was totally unlike her, the calm, level-headed unicorn screaming at one of her friends like that.

Rarity looked offended. "How dare you!? Just because I don't agree with their lifestyle, does not mean I'm not their friend! And you would have the gall to accuse me of not wanting their friendship because of that!? I cannot believe a smart unicorn like yourself could act so irrational and stupid!"

Rainbow Dash had never seen Twilight so angry. She looked like she could tear a feral manticore to shreds with her bare hooves! She wanted to intervene but she didn't know how to not make it worse. She let the argument continue.

"I'm the one acting stupid and irrational!? They came to me first to tell me because I was the rational one and could actually accept them! This is exactly the type of reaction they wanted to avoid! But no, you couldn't just keep your mouth shut could you!? You should be ashamed of yourself!" Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry that I yelled Fluttershy." She then addressed Pinkie. "I'm sorry I yelled Pinkie." She then turned back to Rarity. "You however, I will not say sorry to! You completely disregarded their feelings and you had the nerve to say it in front of Fluttershy! I think you should leave Rarity. I think you should leave now." To Rainbow Dash, it looked like Twilight was actually steaming.

Dash cleared her throat. "Umm...hey girls..."

Rarity was already on her way out, and as she passed the cyan mare, she gave a disgusted look and a shake of her head. Pinkie Pie had broken down to sobs now. Twilight was trying to clean up the party mess. Fluttershy was still trying to console Pinkie. She beckoned for Dash to come over.

Fluttershy said to Rainbow. "How's Applejack?"

Rainbow shuddered at remembering the pain on Applejack's face. "...not good.."

"I suspected as much. We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to help Pinkie. She started crying when Rarity and Twilight started fighting. She trying to stop them but they kept shouting at each other. Eventually, she resigned herself to a corner and started shaking. Then you saw the rest."

"What exactly happened while I was gone?"

"Well...nobody said anything for a long while. Then Rarity said she didn't want any part of this. She said that she could never look at us the same again. Twilight exploded on her at that, but you heard all of that. I just...I never knew that we could cause so much trouble and pain..." Fluttershy looked down, ashamed.

Rainbow Dash gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "This will all sort itself out in the end. At least I hope it will." Dash looked at Pinkie. "Pinkie Pie, how do you feel about all this? I'm sorry you had to see all that..."

Pinkie Pie gave the only answer either of them were looking for. "I'm happy for you two." She said that and then got up and left the barn.

Moments later, Rarity came bursting back into the room.

Twilight said sternly, "I thought I told you to leave."

"It's Applejack! Something is terribly wrong...oh I just don't know what to do....come quickly!"

As the group ran to where Applejack last was, thanks to directions given by Rainbow, they heard a pain filled scream. The voice belonged to Pinkamina Diane Pie. They hurried even faster to the scene, and when they arrived, all they could say was, "Oh no..."

Rainbow Dash was struck deep. Sobs started to creep up as she saw her friend's limp body on the ground.

Author's Note

Ta-Da! Took me long enough but hey! I'm updating! sorry for the long wait. If you see any errors just let me know. Any thoughts or suggestions leave in the comment section below.