Chapter Six

Winds of Change

Chapter Six

BAM

The whole door trembled from the powerful and hasty knock. Fluttershy jumped in the air and hid behind the hoof-chair she was sitting on, letting out a soft ‘eek’ as she did so. Dash on the other side remained calm. It really didn’t occur to her who this might be.

“Really, Fluttershy, you need to stop being startled by everything,” Rainbow said letting out a fake chuckle from her own joke. She helped her friend get out from her hide spot.

“I’ll check who is so eager to meet you,” She said as she walked to the door. The door shook in it’s door frame again, another brutal knock. Rainbow was slightly angered by the other pony’s lack of proper manners. She swung the door open, leaned her head through the threshold and opened her mouth to express her anger at the pony on the other side.

“What do you think y-” Her voice was loud at first but immediately stopped when she saw who exactly was facing her. Dash eyed the pony before her, her anger subsiding and her face expression changing from a angered one to a bewildered one. She let out a small gasp but muffled it with her hoof in time.

On the other side, Applejack’s face remained the same; it was a expression of mingled sadness, anger and disappointment.

They stared at each other, the tension getting thicker with each passing second. When it got unbearable the farm pony opened her mouth to speak.

“Why didn’t ya come back to the farm house?” Applejack asked a simple question, yet it was hard to Dash to give a response.

The Pegasus couldn’t make a sound. She tried to explain what happened but a big lump formed in her throat prevented any sound from escaping. Everything that came out was a incoherent sound. Dash laid her gaze on the floor in front of her.

Applejack decided to ask another question.

“How long are ya here, in Ponyville?” She asked, her voice sounding sad. She was still looking straight at her marefriend.

“I-I just arrived earlier today,” Dash responded finally and cleared her throat, though still looking at the floor.

Well, I need to bring her the news...

“OK, let’s go to the farm, we’ll have a talk there” She looked at her yellow friend, “Sorry that ya have to witness this scene...”

“No problem...” Fluttershy responded meekly, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

Applejack turned around and walked a few meters. When she noticed that Rainbow was not following her, she turned around again.

“I-I can’t...” Dash looked at Fluttershy, searching for some kind of reassurance, but the timid Pegasus whimpered quietly and shrunk a little. Dash understood that her Pegasus friend is not the best source of reassurance.

Rainbow Dash gulped, gathering confidence and courage to tell her marefriend what she had decided to do with the help of Fluttershy.

“I can’t... I won’t go back to the farm” She said and made a long exhale. She was relieved to finally have this off her chest. It almost felt good, but any faint traces of relief or happiness subsided when she looked at her marefriend.

“What-what do y-ya mean?” Applejack stammered, tears welling up from behind her eyes, “Dash what do you mean that you are not going back to the farm?” She asked. She wanted to tell her more, but she was too shocked and everything that could come out of her throat was this question.

“I decided that I need a break from the daily routine on the farm,” Dash responded, “I will mov-” She was cut off by Applejack.

“What do ya mean the daily routine?!” The farm pony loudly said, she was getting angry again, “Ya just got back from a week of vacation! Ya went to Manehatttan! Was-”

“Look, let me explain,” Dash interrupted Applejack, “Please let me explain this.”

Applejack retorted before Rainbow could say another thing, “There is nothing to explain!” She yelled, tears streaming down her face. “How could ya do this to me?! Dash Ah-h was cryin’ mah eyes out when ya was in Manehattan! Ah didn’t know what was happenin’ to you, if ya was OK, if-f nothing happened to ya!”

Dash backed up a little, “Applejack, I needed to rest! I can’t work like that all the time! You cant blame me for being tired. From the first day I moved to Sweet Apple Acres I went to work!”

“Ya could take how much vacation you wanted after the apple buck season!” She let out a uncontrolled sob, “Ya left just before the most important week of the year! Ya could go one week later! we could have went together!”

“You can’t just burden me with all the Apple family’s chores!” Dash screamed right at Applejack’s face.

Applejack backed up, “Well you could think about that BEFORE you moved in! Now you are a part of the family so you got all the chores!” She responded loudly, “Now you want MORE vacation? Didn’t you rest from the work enough?”

“Fluttershy opened my eyes at the situation here. I CAN’T work like that! I’m a Pegasus! Not a earth pony like you or your family!” She continued, “I need a break, a longer one... I need to rethink the whole situatio-”

“Dashie! You cannot leave me like this... again!” Applejack responded, crying again, “I-I don’t want to lose you... Ah love you Dash! Cant ya understand? Ah was so scared that you would leave me, not come back to the farm...”

“I will come back!” Dash responded with a small half-hearted smile, “Just not at that moment...”

Well, at least I think I will... This thought deeply saddened the blue Pegasus, but she could not fool herself, she wasn’t sure if she will come back. She wanted to go back there with all her heart, but she could not, like if a invisible mind barrier was preventing her from doing it.

The farm pony’s ears fell, “Ya don’t have to go Rainbow... A-Ah will think of something *sniff*, ya can come back and have your rest at the farm. Ah will be performing all of the chores like Ah did before ya moved in.” She pleaded.

“Look, Applejack, I cannot go back at the farm. It’s not only about the chores and work, I need to rest from the place altogether,” The colorful pony responded, her face a frown. “I know that this might be hard for you, but I hardly can explain this myself...”

“OH, sure Rainbow, ya even don’t start to imagine how hard it is to me! Ya just outright disappear without saying a single word where are ya going or when are ya planning to come back!” The orange mare shouted, tears once more threatening to spill, “Ya are so selfish Rainbow Dash! Ya have a great vacation in Manehattan while Ah am crying mah eyes out! Do ya ever take other ponies feelings into cons-”

Rainbow could not stand this anymore and interrupted Applejack with a loud shout, “What’s the point of this Applejack? You should be happy that I came back at all! From the way you were treating me, I could just never come back to the farm!” Dash yelled but immediately regretted it.

“OH, thank you! Thank you so much that ya didn’t leave me for some filthy stallion in Manehattan! Ah’m sure he would treat ya better than me!”

“At least maybe he would be some fun!” Dash really didn’t want to continue pushing her marefriend like this, but something always took control over her when she was in a argument “Didn’t you notice what was going on with us in the last few weeks? We stopped going out, we nearly stopped kissing, we got thrown into the every day routine! I can’t live like that! I’m meant to party, to fly, to have fun! Not to stay on the farm and WORK!” Rainbow Dash screamed, close to tears herself, which was not a common sight.

“Well ya could have thought of that before ya admitted yer silly feelings to me! Now yer a part of the family so ya have to work! Ya didn’t think that ya will just move in, sit on yer rump all day, get food served on a golden salver and not do any work, did ya?! Well if ya thought that way yer naive!” Applejack powerfully stomped her hoof on the ground to put more emphasis on what she just said.

“Are ya calling my feelings for you... silly?” Dash asked, her face dampened with tears that started to flow when she heard the recent insults from her marefriend. “You know what? You are naive if you thought that you can keep me on the farm if I have to live a life like this! If you did you were WRONG! I won’t stay at the farm forever, ya know? I need some fun! But I guess that you don’t know the meaning of this word, you are boring, Applejack! Boring! The life on the farm is boring, the work is boring, the food is boring, the chores are boring, YOU are boring!” Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily.

Applejack didn’t give a response, instead she was staring at Rainbow for a few tense seconds. Her face bore an expression of deep sorrow and grief. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying. Her mouth opened to retort but everything that came out of it was a loud and uncontrolled sob. Tears were streaming down her face, landing on the ground and forming a small puddle. Applejack closed her mouth and eyes. The tears were escaping nevertheless. When she reopened her eyes, she let out a small cry, turned around and ran away to a unknown destination. The clopping of her hooves and her crying could be heard for a few more seconds and then the cottage became silent again.

The cyan Pegasus stood there for a few moments, staring at the place where her friend was standing not moments ago. She tried to gulp down tears but this didn’t do too much to stop them from pouring down her face. She sniffed, looked around to see the interior of the cottage. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. She probably hid under her bed.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to do. She just insulted her marefriend to the point that she could not stand it anymore and ran away.

What in the sweet name of Celestia did I do?! - She screamed in her mind - I didn’t mean all those things, did I?

At that moment Dash felt regret at what she had done. But it wasn’t the only emotion that she felt. This made Rainbow uneasy but she felt relief. Tears were still pouring through her eyelids and nothing indicated that they would stop soon. With those two emotions fighting for dominance over her mind, the lost pony unfolded her wings and gave them a ferocious flap that got her several meters into the warm air. She looked at her cloud house and set it as her destination. As Fluttershy has advised, she needed to rest and rethink the whole situation.

After a short and joyless fly she arrived at her cloud palace. She looked down at Ponyville and saw little fillies playing on the main square of the town, a happy couple sitting on a bench in the park and father happily carrying his small son on his back. Normally the sight of those things would make her delightful, but not now. She was really lost now. Before the argument, she at least knew if she still had the same feelings for the orange mare. Now it wasn’t so obvious.

The blue Pegasus opened her main door with a sniff. She hadn't visited her own cloud house for a month now. The normally sharp corners on the walls were now ragged, a few of her cloud-furniture lost shape completely and turned into useless blobs of water vapour. This was the biggest flaw in the building material of the Pegasus’ homes. They had to be smoothed regularly, and if forgotten, they were slowly changing back to their original state - shapeless clouds.

Rainbow dash smoothed the walls with a few well aimed kicks, but was too shaken to care about the furniture. She stood in her hall for a few moments, eying the walls pointlessly, and headed for the bedroom. She didn’t have a slightest idea what to do know, so she did the thing that her tired mind was telling.

The Pegasus had a vague idea that she should apologize to the pony she still believed that she loved. In spite of all her mental effort she could not build up the courage to face the farm pony.

She laid in her cloud bed. She laid there, thinking about the things that happened that day, and pondering if the decisions she made were good. After some time she fell in a shallow and unpleasant sleep.

-«<♦>»-

Applejack ran through town, tears flowing out of her eyes and getting carried away with the wind. The insults she heard from the pony she loved still present at her mind.

You are boring.

She ran faster, not paying attention to where exactly she was going. She barely avoided a collision with another pony, and didn’t even care to apologize. Her favorite Stetson fell of her head, she didn’t even notice.

You are boring!

Her hooves skidded on the dirt as she made a turn and headed to the farm house.

YOU ARE BORING!

Rainbow’s voice repeated this insult over and over again in her head. Every time it got louder and more nagging. She could barely stand it anymore. The mare that she loved so much, that she devoted all her time to and would do anything for, stabbed her right into the heart with this insult.

Applejack always tried to entertain Dash in various ways. at the beginning of their relationship they tended to go out to town at evenings. To restaurants, bars, theaters (Dash didn’t like that last one too much) and other places like this. They even went to parties. This was not Applejack’s kind of thing, but she still went on them and tried to enjoy them, just for the sake of her marefriend. She never let Dash notice that she didn’t necessarily have a good time at those.

So the insult that Applejack was boring to Rainbow pained her the most.

The tiring run ended near the gate to the Sweet Apple Acres’ farm house. Applejack opened it and not caring to close it ran to the main entrance to the house. She swung the door open and surveyed the inside. The kitchen looked empty, the only pony she spotted was Granny Smith peacefully sleeping on her rocking-chair in the corner of the room. Neither did she care or know where the rest of her family was.

The farm pony closed the door behind her with a loud slam and directed her trot to her own room. She didn’t even care to check if Granny Smith has woken up from her slumber. When she got to her room, she closed the door behind her with another powerful slam and jumped on the bed.

Her mind was still replaying the course of her conversation with Rainbow Dash. Once the talking finished her mind projected a vision a content Rainbow Dash looking at the farm pony, who is running away and hurt. After that the whole ordeal was replaying from the beginning.

The orange earth pony tried to find salvation from her own thoughts in sleep, but to no avail. Every time she was closing her eyes and drifting into the land of the sleeping, the thoughts came back with their strength doubled. Never before in her life she was crying for so long. Even a hour after her arrival in the farm house, tears steadily flowed from her eyes.

-«<♦>»-

The last rays of sunlight hid behind the mountains as the night started settling in. Luna’s moon slowly but surely rose on the canvas of the night sky, shimmering amongst them in harmony. It was a pleasant night for all of the citizens of Ponyville. All but two. Both of the mares fell into a shallow and unsteady sleep, both not so sure about their future.

A/N - Sorry for the delay there but I had a lot to do and didn't have too much time to write. I hope this wont happen again. Remember to leave a comment! (I love them)