Winds of Change

by Destructio23

Rating: everyone
Tags: Applejack, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Sad, Other, Romance, Big Macintosh, Slice of Life
Length: 36843

Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's relationship is at stake. Will it survive?

Applejack and Rainbow Dash have been together for some time now. However, something strange has been happening to Rainbow recently. She has feelings that she herself cannot explain, and it starts to take a toll on their relationship when she starts treating Applejack different. Can Rainbow Dash come to terms with her own feelings, though it may hurt Applejack more than anypony else?

If you like the Slice of Life genre, join this group , thanks!
Big thanks to SolsticeBrony888 and OmGeeFace for being my awesome proofreaders!
The artwork was created by WhiteDiamondsLtd, check him out!
Story Status:
Completed

Published 2012-01-24 11:51:21 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-15 19:31:02 UTC

Chapter One

Winds of Change

Chapter one

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztttttttttttt

An orange hoof landed on the top of an old analog alarm clock with a barely audible click, stopping the annoying buzz. Applejack let out a long yawn and opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed, particles of dust dancing around her, illuminated by the first rays of sunlight that shone through the small slit in the window drapes. The orange mare looked to her right. She could make out a silhouette of a certain blue Pegasus lying beside her, quietly snoring. Applejack briefly considered waking her marefriend up and decided against it. She knew that the Pegasus enjoyed sleeping longer than the Apple family is used to.

She got up from the bed, making sure that she didn’t accidentally wake the cyan mare. She reached for her worn out Stetson that was placed on the bedside table and placed it firmly on her head. Applejack began her slow trot towards her bedroom door. Years of the same daily routine taught her which floor panels to avoid because of the squeaks they made when pressure was applied. The door was slowly opened and the farm pony snuck out closing the door behind.

Applejack noticed the door to her brother’s room across the corridor start to open. A crimson head emerged from the room.

“Howdy there sis.” Big Macintosh said as he closed his bedroom’s door behind him.

“Howdy brother, please keep yer tone down, Rainbow’s still asleep.” She said while tipping her hat in a gesture of greet.

“I’ll sure will sis, did ya wake up Apple Bloom yet?” The husky stallion asked.

“No, but Ah recall that Ah was the one to do it yesterday, so it is yer turn this time.” She said with a small smile forming on her face “In case ya forgot, Ah’m the element of honesty, Ah wouldn’t lie to ya”

“Thanks for the reminder” Big Mac replied, his voice betraying a hint of playful sarcasm ”Ah completely forgot who Ah live with”

“Woah, time’s really not serving you right then, yer gettin’ old fast.” Applejack said as she passed the door to Apple Bloom’s bedroom and headed for the bathroom.

Once she got there, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had traces of bags under her eyes, which were a sign that the preparations for apple buck season have taken a toll on her. The barn had to be emptied from all the baskets, barrels and carts which were placed in strategic positions, so the only task in the upcoming days was apple bucking itself. The process was prolonged because of all the chaos Apple Bloom was making when she heard that she was already old enough to take part in the family tradition of bucking trees. The filly was so worked up over this that she was more of an impediment rather than help.

Applejack turned the tap on and splashed a hoofful of water on her face, hoping that this would clear the light bags under her eyes. A fast glimpse at the mirror proved otherwise. With a sigh she grabbed a comb with a specially designed handle that made it easy to use for earth ponies. After a few fast combs she reached for the pair of elastic red bands that she used to style her mane like she liked. When the bands were on their rightful places she set about brushing her teeth. In the middle of this activity an increasingly loud racket could be heard from the corridor.

Once the bathroom was stoic and placid, but that was before a streak of pale yellow and red dashed into it, causing bottles of different cosmetics and toiletries to fly up into the air and land on the wooden floor with soft thuds.

“Ohsisit’smahfirstdayapplebuckin’ahseriuoslycantwaitahcantahcant!” Apple Bloom blurted out in a streak of incoherent words. She was prancing around and startled Applejack, who was at a temporary loss of words. She spat the paste into the sink, rinsed her mouth and turned the tap off.

“Well hello there little Apple Bloom, Ah can see that you really are lookin’ forward to today’s apple buckin’. Remember though that this is a great responsibility, the well-being of our family depends on those apples,” Applejack let Apple Bloom taste a little bit of her philosophy.

“Ya bet!” Apple Bloom nearly shouted “Ah can literally feel my apple bucking cutie mark forming on mah flanks, Ah simply can’t wait no longer! Let’s fix somethin’ to eat really fast and get to bucking!” With this she tugged on Applejack’s hoof with strength that slightly surprised the the older pony. Once she was forcefully transported to the kitchen down stairs, she started making a breakfast with the little filly.

-«<♦>»- A few minutes before -«<♦>»-

Rainbow Dash woke up to a sound of a closing door. She shifted slightly in the bed and covered herself tighter with the cloud blanket.

Those cloud quilts and beds are really comfortable, I wonder who came up with the idea… wait… this is not a cloud quilt… it’s too rough and…

Rainbow’s eyes darted open and wandered around her surroundings. The outlines of the furniture and the faint apple smell in the half dark room made her realize where she was.

Of course, Applejack’s place. The same place in which I was waking up for a few months’ time. Was I dreaming of being in my cloud home again?

She shifted around expecting to find Applejack lying next to her, but the only thing she found was sunlight shining right at her eyes, that still were not used to light. She clenched her eyelids tight, a tear escaping anyway. After a few seconds she slowly started to reopen her eyes and getting them used to the sunlight. When this task was completed she searched the bed for Applejack, with no result. She guessed that the farmer already woke up and left. She wasn’t sure whether to be happy that Applejack let her sleep longer or if to be saddened that she was left in the bedroom. Dash decided that she will try to get some more sleep before going downstairs.

Apple Bloom got so excited yesterday when she heard that she will take part in the next day’s apple bucking that she nearly fainted. I really don’t know what is the deal with this. What is so exiting about bucking trees? I was doing this here for a few months already and all I can say is that this work is boring. I would rather go back to my weather control duties than buck trees-

Her train of thought was interrupted by a horrible racket somewhere outside of the room. She froze genuinely bewildered. After hearing a very muffled shout, the sound of something being dragged on the floor could be heard from outside the bedroom. Rainbow waited another ten seconds but nothing could be heard any more.

Her bewilderment and concern reaching climax, she jumped out of the bed right on a squeaky floor panel. The sound made startled Rainbow even further. She very slowly approached the door, as if it would bite. When the rainbow mane’d Pegasus finally made it to the door she started twisting the door knob and opening the door. When she peeked through the slit that formed she found herself staring into a pair of green orbs. The Pegasus let out a muffled shriek and slammed the door shut. Inside she recoiled and fell on her rump in the middle of the room. As the door reopened, a red head emerged into the room.

“Ah didn’t mean to startle you like that miss Rainbow,” Big Mac said with a giggle that was muffled as soon as it started.

“What? You didn’t startle me at all… eeee… hey, how many times I’ve told you to call me Rainbow Dash? Or Dash? Or Rainbow? Just this, without “Ma’am” or “Miss”. Really, we’ve know each other long enough,” Dash said, just for the sake of changing the subject. Big Mac knew that, because they had discussed this matter a few times already.

“Ah’m sorry but when Ah was a colt, Ah was taught by Granny Smith to address mares with respect they deserve,” The strong stallion replied as he helped Rainbow to stand up.

“Oh, OK then, I’ll be going if that’s all!” Dash wanted to get out of this stupid situation as fast as she could. As she passed the stallion, she could only hope that she didn’t blush from embarrassment. In the corridor she took a turn and descended a few steps right into the kitchen, where Applejack and Apple Bloom already were. Big Mac followed closely.

Apple Bloom was first to spot the cyan Pegasus in the kitchen “Hey there Dash! How was yer sleep? Guess what? Today is mah first day of apple buckin’! Ah’m so exited Ah can barely stand!”

“Well hello there pipsqueak! “ Rainbow said absentmindedly, while sitting on a chair near the table, apparently waiting for a breakfast, “Did you catch some good sleep last night? I know that it’s your big day today,”

“Ah tried but Ah totally could not even close my eyes from all the excitement!” She replied with a grin.

“Well that’s strange, when Ah came to yer room ya were sound asleep,” Said Big Mac, barely stopping a laugh.

“Breakfast is ready!” Yelled Applejack, saving Apple Bloom the effort of coming with a good response.

Big Mac seated himself along Apple Bloom on one side of the table, leaving the other one to Rainbow and Applejack to share. Dash sat opposite to Applejack’s brother, Applejack soon came to the table with four steaming apple pies on her back.

“Breakfast is served!” She said, setting the hot pies in front of everypony present in the kitchen. “Howdy there Rainbow! How was your sleepin’?” she wanted to check if her marefrend managed to get out of her strange mood which she caught a few days ago.

When the farmer seated herself and got a laconic answer “It was OK”

Apparently she did not, so Applejack decided to pull Rainbow Dash into a kiss. As Rainbow was grabbed she seemed to shake at contact. When in the hug, Dash did not make eye contact, instead looking at the table in front of her. It the light of the new situation the orange mare kissed Rainbow Dash on her right cheek and let go.

“Is something wrong sugarcube?” The orange mare said with a concerned frown, “You can always tell me if there is something that-“

“No, no really I’m OK,” The blue Pegasus interrupted, “I just didn’t get enough night’s sleep, that’s all. I’m tired just from thinking about all the bucking that’s ahead of us,”

Even though the blond pony made the impression of believing the Pegasus, she clearly could see through her lie, and knew that something was off. After a moment of hesitation she decided not to push on the subject. At least not yet, they indeed had a hard day ahead, and she did not want to trouble herself, Dash nor the rest of the Apple family with anything until the work was done.

Apple Bloom was first to devour her pie, due to her excitement and anticipation of the coming work. She even beat her brother in terms of speedy eating, which was not an easy feat to perform.

When all the ponies finished eating, they walked out of the house, soon standing in front of the enormous apple orchard. While Applejack and Big Mac were calm from having done this task many times before, the little filly had a hard time containing herself.

“OK ponies, Ah think it’ll be the best if Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh headed together to work on the North part of the orchard while Ah will work on the South part with Dash” Applejack stated. “Mac will introduce you to the secrets of bucking apples, Apple Bloom, make sure ya listen to yer big brother!”

“OK Applejack! Now, let’s go, let’s go! Come Big Mac, we don’t have the whole day, Ah finally want to get mah cutie mark! C’mon!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, eager to get to work. She grabbed her brother by his hoof and started dragging him towards the North part of the orchard, with strength that surprised the stallion in the same fashion it surprised his sister some time ago.

“OK Dash we can go… Dash!” Yelled Applejack, bringing Rainbow’s mind back to Equestria.

Dash’s head shot upwards, her mane whipping the air. “AH! Sorry I got carried away a bit”

“Are ya OK there Dashie? You’ve seemed awfully bothered recently, sugarcube. Remember, ya can tell me if there is anything that Ah can do.”

“Applejack, really, everything is OK, you have nothing to worry about” Dash persisted, looking straight into Applejacks eyes. She attempted a sincere smile that would reassure Applejack that she was telling the truth. The farmer pony looked deep into Rainbow’s eyes for a few seconds, making Dash feel anxious and finally smiled back.

“Hmmmm… If ya say so Dash, Ah believe you” she said, nuzzled her and gave the usually brash Pegasus a hot kiss on the lips which was repaid but not with the devotion that the blond pony would like. With a sigh she motioned for the Pegasus to follow her towards the first row of trees.

Without another word the cyan Pegasus stood before an apple tree. She examined it for a few seconds, as if the apples would buck themselves. She let her head drop a little, turned around stood on her forelegs and gave a powerful buck that made the whole tree sway back and forth. Red and green apples fell to their designated positions with soft thuds as expected. Rainbow absentmindedly moved to the next tree in the row and bucked it with the same blank expression on her face. She repeated the process a few times, oblivious to the fact that Applejack was observing her closely the whole time, with a look of worry on her face.

Ah would swear that something is not right with this one… It seems like the whole happiness just disappeared from her life in the past few days… her mind seems to wander around instead of focusing on anythin’

After a few more moments of contemplation, Applejack started harvesting apples herself. The work had to be done, with or without family problems. Her bucks were fast and powerful at the same time. This made the work efficient. In a matter of minutes she overtook Rainbow in the terms of bucked trees.

-«<♦>»-

The day’s time of apple harvest came and went. Overall it was success, despite Rainbow’s absent-mindedness. The family was sitting near the table in the kitchen, the same one they had breakfast in. Big Macintosh and Applejack were fixing dinner for the whole family. This time Granny Smith was also present, she woke up around midday. She no longer took part in the harvesting process, due to her age and weak hip. The cyan mare sat on her place, having a stare contest with her plate. Her mind clearly had trailed off to other things once again. Apple Bloom sat near the table with a scowl on her face and her fore hooves crossed.

“Ah can’t believe Ah bucked so many trees during the whole harvest, but STILL I didn’t get mah cutie mark,” She said with a hint of mingled annoyance and sadness. “Maybe Ah will never get mah cutie mark, this harvest was mah last c-chance…”

“Don’t be worried young Apple Bloom, Ah’m sure ya’ll get yer cutie mark soon enough. Remember, you need to wait for yer mark and I’ll come all by itself, there’s no reason in worryin’ yer small head bout’ it,” Granny Smith reassured.

“But Ah’m already tired of waiting!” Apple Bloom whined and looked down on the plate before her. She was nuzzled by her brother that just came back to the table, while carrying three apple pies on his back.

“Ah’m sure that yer cutie mark is just around the corner Apple Bloom, patience is key,” he said as he distributed the pies to everypony. Applejack soon came behind him and did the same with the two pies she had on her back.

“Tell me Rainbow, did you enjoy today’s bucking?” Applejack said, but not from her desire for a conversation but rather to detect what mood Dash was in.

“It was OK, nothing special though,” Rainbow Dash responded simply.

“Did you get tired?” Applejack continued.

“No,” Dash responded, choosing to look at the steaming pie in front of her instead of Applejack.

At this point the orange mare started seriously worrying about Rainbow. The whole day she was silent and absentminded, she did not say a word if not asked the whole day. Her expression was blank and she wasn’t looking at Applejack when talking with her. When harvesting apples she was working like a robot, she did not stop the entire time like if her body was locked up in this particular activity and her mind wandered away.

After the pies were eaten, Applejack notified everypony that it was about time for them to hit the hay. They were all surprised by this, it was barely after dusk. She explained that they needed to get as much sleep as they can before the next day’s harvest which would be similar to today’s. This was not the real reason why she had said that, at least not the whole reason. She said that to give more sleep to Dash. It hopefully would clear her mind and she will be able to finally say what is troubling her.

-«<♦>»-

Everypony were in their beds and ready for a relaxing night of sleep after a tough day harvesting their apples. Applejack had just finished taking a shower, which freshened her mind after the exhausting day, she always enjoyed going to sleep clean.

She quietly stepped into her former room which now she shared with Rainbow. The mentioned pony was already laying on the bed, her back towards the door and Applejack. When the blond pony entered, Dash did not move. Applejack heard snoring, so she assumed that Rainbow was asleep. She slowly walked towards the bed and gently laid herself next to the Pegasus. She shifted to see Dash’s face. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rhythmically going up and down in slow breaths. Applejack kissed her on the cheek.

“Goodnight darlin’,” she whispered.

This earned her no reaction, so with a barely audible sigh, she laid her Stetson on the nightstand and put her head on the pillow. She hoped that more sleep would clear Dash’s mind and let her express her problems, so they could solve them together. After a few more minutes of silent contemplation, she fell asleep.

-«<♦>»- One minute earlier -«<♦>»-

Dash laid down and covered herself with the thick quilt. She was shifting, looking for a comfortable position for a good thirty seconds. She would do the same for another thirty if not for the sound of the opening door, which caused her to immediately freeze. She closed her eyes and started her best impression of her own snoring. She hoped that Applejack would fall for the trick and not ask her the same hard questions, answers to which she did not know herself. When she got the kiss and heard that Applejack was probably asleep, she shifted so she would be facing the ceiling. She opened her eyes and stared at the wooden panels that made it up. Thousands of thoughts crossing her mind at hundreds miles per hour.

Chapter Two

Winds of Change

Chapter Two

Rainbow Dash was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling as if it held the sense of life.
The mare’s gaze seemingly examined every single splinter that made it up. She was contemplating her recent changes in her life. Was those changes for the better? Or for the worse?

I’m happy with Applejack! She screamed in her mind, as if she wanted to convince herself that this was true.

I already organized my life here, I have a house to live in, my own room which I can sleep and most important I have a loving, caring, honest, sexy - At this moment Dash’s face formed an involuntary smirk - responsible and awesome marefriend! SO WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?

At this thought she slammed her left hoof on her bed at full force. The kinetic force of the blow made the whole mattress sway up and down like a jelly. Rainbow became terrified that she woke Applejack up and will have to answer hard questions and give excuses to why she did that, as if she didn’t already have questions to answer when the orange mare woke up. Dash waited a few tense seconds, but the farmer’s snoring, thank Celestia, did not falter. Rainbow always knew that Applejack was a ridiculously deep sleeper.

She sleeps like a rock. I’m guessing this apple buck season sure took a toll on her, I should thank her for her hard work later.

A few moments later, Rainbow acknowledged this moment as funny. She even stifled a brief laugh. However, after an another moment grim thoughts started crossing her mind, her moment of laughter was cut off by her returning thoughts about the mare beside her.

What is happening to me? I don’t understand any of this, why, oh Celestia, WHY can’t I be happy? Every day I get up, wash myself, eat breakfast and go to work. So where is the error?

Rainbow’s eyes widened when realization hit her.

Maybe THIS is my error? I got sucked up by the daily routine and that’s why I cannot be happy again? Before I hooked up with Applejack I used to get up at any time I wanted. I ate whatever i desired, I even could order pizza for breakfast. My weather duties could be done in ten seconds flat so I basically had the whole day for myself after performing them. On the other hoof, here I have to get up on a preset hour, which is painfully early, do the washing QUICKLY because there is only one bathroom in the whole house. After eating my pie...

At this thought Dash’s face turned into a grimace of disgust

Seriously, what do they see in those apple pies? We eat them every day! Not every second day, not every week, EVERY SINGLE BUCKING DAY. At first those pies were OK, I was happy that I could eat them and what was important I didn’t have to prepare them my self. However after a month or two I grew tired of those bucking pies. But it’s not only about pies, oh no. Everything they eat here is consisting of apples! I’ll explode if I have to eat another one!

The cyan mare took a deep breath through her nostrils, the faint apple scent hitting her at full force. Her face turned yet again to an involuntary grimace.

I’m tired of this place... and the duties, oh don’t get me started on them. My weather work was bread and butter compared to this. Hours and hours of hard, exhausting, boring, monotonous and Sisyphean labour! This is earth pony work, not Pegasus! It is so hard, I don’t have he muscles of an earth pony, so why did they force me to work? Well they did not DIRECTLY force me but rather maneuvered me into it.

Suddenly Rainbow could not stand to stay in bed any second longer. She longed for fresh air; she was suffocating with her own thoughts. She got a sudden and severe headache.

I NEED to get out of here NOW! She yelled in her mind in panic.

She raised a shaky hoof and uncovered herself form under the thick quilt. Sudden cold hit her and made her shake. Dash took a few seconds to collect her thoughts and started to very slowly get up, cautious to not wake Applejack up. When last of her four hooves touched the floor she moved the quilt the way it was before. Next the Pegasus began her slow sneak towards the door. No matter how hard she tried, she never could memorize which of the floor panels made squeaky noises when stepped on. So before each step she very carefully checked if the panel would not reveal what she was doing when stepped on.

After around five minutes of monotonous work, she finally got to the door, luckily without making any revealing sounds. She slowly began turning the door knob and opening the door. When the door was ajar, she peeked on to the corridor. It was enveloped by darkness. The only light source was the window at the far end of the corridor, the drapes of which, thank Celestia, were not fully drawn, allowing a small ray of light through.

Dash tired to sharpen her hearing to determine if the remaining family members were asleep as Applejack was. She heard loud snoring coming from Big Macintosh’s room - he was asleep for sure. Rainbows head turned to face the door to Apple Bloom’s room. This time the Pegasus could not hear a thing.

What is this filly doing in the middle of the night, if not sleeping?

Rainbow decided to investigate if the filly was asleep. As reckless as this idea was, Dash considered it as great. The rest of her cyan form exited her room and she slowly closed the door behind herself, careful not to slam it. She begun sneaking to the door, once again testing each and every floor panel. When she finally reached her destination, she started the nerve wrecking process of opening the door. When a small slit formed, she popped her head inside like a periscope. The bed became a target of her inspecting gaze. She could form a dark silhouette on the bed, contrasting with the moonlight from the window. The form on the bed was steadily going up and down, but no snoring could be heard.

Of course, she simply does not snore, she is too young! I’m so stupid! She scolded herself for her foolishness in her mind.

Dash moved her head back to the corridor and closed the door behind herself.

Slam

Dash froze in her tracks. She prayed to Celestia that nopony woke up from their slumber. The tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Rainbow stood on the corridor, drops of cold sweat making their journey from her forehead to the floor, a feeling of anxiety twisting in her
stomach. Seconds passed one after the other, like grains of sand in a hourglass. She once again strove to hear anything. It seemed that the situation did not change, snoring could be heard from Big Mac’s room as well as from Applejack’s room.

OK, it’s OK. Nopony woke up, it’s clear that they all sleep Rainbow tried to calm herself.

After a few calming breaths she started a very slow gait to the stairs leading to the kitchen. When she got to the stairs she doubled her caution.

I can’t afford making another sound or I'll be discovered!

Three minutes of painfully slow gait down the stairs proved to be very exhausting. When she finally got down she decided that she can tone down her caution a bit. She walked to the front door and opened it. The rush of fresh air immediately cleared her burdened mind and sharpened her senses. The bite of cold was a pleasant change from the stuffy air in her room.

I really miss my cloud home, It was always fresh and never so stuffy, the clouds pass a enormous amount of air...

Dash stepped out of the house and carefully closed the door behind herself. She found an old, wooden rocking chair. It used to be green, but now the paint was scraping off. Rainbow chose to sit on it anyway. When she did, the chair started to rock gently. Then she moved her gaze upwards. She was blown away with the sight of the sky. There was literally not a single cloud on the night sky and the full moon was unusually bright.

The sight of this natural marvel combined with the fresh and cool night air soothed her senses and brought peace to her mind. She finally could think straight.

OK Rainbow Danger Dash - She used her fake middle name for confidence and to calm herself - you need to regain composure. PRONTO

She looked back at the wooden farmhouse.

I don’t want to go back there this thought crossed her mind faster than she could control it.

Seriously, Dash? What the buck is wrong with you? Have you gone insane? I’ve already told you... no, I’ve already told myself that I have everything that a mare would ask for! But as hard as she tried to convince herself, she subconsciously knew that that was wrong. Very wrong. Her face grew morose, her eyes welled up and she was fighting against tears with all her might.

Maybe... maybe, just maybe, t-this was not a good decision after all She stuttered in her own mind from all the anxiety. Thoughts of that day, not so long ago, started flooding her mind against her will.

-«<♦>»-

“Applejack, I think that I love you,” Rainbow Dash said.

Silence.

No, this sounds lame, totally not awesome, she thought, angry with herself. She never liked when something didn’t go according to her. Really, what is so hard in this? Just go there and tell her everything! Nothing hard, nothing to worry about, easy Dash, take it easy, she thought for confidence.

Rainbow was standing in her cloud house, in front of a huge mirror near the front door. She’d put the mirror there a long time ago, just to be able to adore herself in front of it. She never would have guessed that it would serve the purpose it served now. Rehearsing admitting love to a friend. Dash had to make sure that she would do it in an awesome way, like she does everything. But no matter how many times she tried and how many variants she thought of, it always sounded lame to her.

Admitting love simply IS lame... even when I do it...

She pondered for a second.

Maybe I will fly really fast and I will write ‘ I love you Applejack’ with my rainbow trail?” she mused. Nah, too much.

I know, I’ll just go to her and admit everything there and then, just like that. I hope everything will go according to plan, I mean, all the fierce competition! This girl has to have a thing for me, just has to!

With that she flew out of her cloud home, not even minding to close the front door.

She suddenly became very anxious, her confidence faltering with every meter passed.

“C’mon Dash! Pony up! Just go and spill everything in front of her!” she said out loud to aid her confidence.

After a minute or so of flying, she arrived at the air space above Sweet Apple Acres. She was flying above the endless rows of apple trees, looking for the orange farmer, whom she had had a crush on for as long as she could remember. As she was flying she heard a very faint Thump Thump Thump

Aha! The sound of bucking trees! This girl sees nothing but trees!

She steadied herself in the air to determine the location from which the sound was coming from. After a second or two she made a ninety degree turn to the right and soared away.
The sound was getting louder and louder as she was flying towards the source. She finally spotted her crush, bucking trees with the devotion of a true Apple family member, completely oblivious to her gaze.

“Just look at her! She’s so hot ,” she whispered to herself. Her wings chose this very moment to stiffen, making it hard to fly. Rainbow Dash had to touchdown in front of Applejack faster than she would like, she didn’t have time to finally choose what to say.

“Well hello there Dash! Nice to see ya!” Applejack mused when she spotted that Rainbow had landed right in front of her. ”Tell me, what urgent matter brought you here to me?” She said with a friendly smile.

Since Dash did not really plan what to say she stood there, like she was encased in stone.

“Hello there... Applejack...” she said with a uneasy look on her face. “Well it was nice to chat with you butIthinkthatIleftthestoveonbye! “she blurted out and dashed off in a random direction.

“DASH, WAIT!” Applejack shouted, but the Pegasus was already too far away to hear her. Even if she could, she was too embarrassed to come back. “Well that was... odd.” Applejack admitted as she watched the Pegasus fly away, “What is wrong with that filly,” When that was said she went back to her duties.

Rainbow Dash was flying at an unbelievable speed. “What the hay have I done? I blew my chance, I’m not Rainbow Danger Dash enough...”

She flew slower and slower until she finally stopped. “NO, I really need to do this! It’s killing me, rejection would be better than this!”

With that she made a one hundred and eighty degree turn and again sped towards Applejack. After a few seconds she got to the place from which she previously fled. She aimed directly at Applejack, her flight speed not decreasing.

BOOM

The cyan mare crashed into the farmer at a high velocity. They tumbled together for a good few meters before stopping. Rainbow was on top of Applejack, looking right into her beautiful green eyes.

“Rainbow! What do ya think-” Applejack’s voice was muffled by Dash’s hoof. When Rainbow withdrew her hoof, Applejack remained silent. The Pegasus, not thinking too much has leaned and connected lips with the farmer. Her tongue forcefully making it’s way into Applejack’s mouth. The orange pony’s eyes shot open with surprise. Their tongues danced around each others in greeting, their gazes meeting and their hooves wrapping around each other. Surprised at first; Applejack soon returned the kiss with vigor. No matter how much she wanted it to continue, Rainbow Dash had to stop just to catch her breath. When they parted lips their gazes stayed, their hooves tangled around each other. A small bridge of saliva still connected the two mares.

“Applejack, I think I love you...” Rainbow said sheepishly, a heavy blush on her face.

“Darlin’, Ah don’t know what to say... I love you too!” The farm pony said, color of her face comparable to her brother’s color.

They remained it that position for a few seconds, sharing their first romantic moment, sudden as it may have been. Dash leaned for another kiss but Applejack pushed her gently away and stood up. She confronted the confused look on Dash’s face with a seductive one.

“Follow me sugarcube,” she half whispered.

“But-” This time she was cut off by a hoof. The same hoof grabbed her and gently dragged towards the barn.

When they made it into the barn Applejack leaned for another passionate kiss, which lasted even longer than the last one. After the kiss Applejack walked to the barn door, grabbed it with a hoof and said “Let me show ya how we do it here on th’ farm” With this she forcefully closed the door with a loud thud.

-«<♦>»-

The memory left a crying Rainbow Dash in its wake. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her face a grimace.

Why does this memory sadden me? There is seriously something wrong... this should make me happy!

Without a word she got up from the old rocking chair, stole one last look at the night sky and returned to the farmhouse, completely forgetting about being quiet. She went to her room and laid next to a slumbering Applejack. This will be a sleepless night.

Chapter Three

Winds of Change

Chapter Three

She ran. She ran in an unknown forest. Small twigs and stones were scratching her battered hooves. She was desperately trying to escape the horrible beast that was roaring menacingly behind her while constantly avoiding low hanging branches and rocks that seemingly sprouted in front of her out of thin air. It was dark, so dark that it was impossible to see what was ten feet ahead. The only thing that was clearly visible was a unnaturally bright full moon, peeking from in between the branches.

Rainbow Dash screamed, “HEEEEELP!” Her eyes were wide with terror.

The Pegasus heard the beast’s sonorous roar. She tried to increase the tempo of her escape, but her legs were failing her. Too much strain, even for a pony as athletic as Rainbow. A thought crossed her mind in the midst of her panic.

I have wings! Wings!

Her strength renewed when her hope of escaping returned. Dash extended her wings to their full span and made a ferocious flap, strengthened by fear and hope. However, her wings whipped through the air like a hot knife through butter. Horrified, she looked behind. The view terrified her, in the place of her strong, vibrant blue wings were two smoldering black sticks, showing great resemblance of Pegasus bones. They hung limply on her sides, threatening to fall off. One even still had small flickering flame on it.

A mortified scream was everything that Rainbow could manage out of herself.

She was so shocked and terrified that she failed to notice a large tree root in her path and tripped over it. The blue Pegasus was sent flying into the air. After a few seconds of agonizing flight, she stumbled to the ground. Dash landed on her back, her burnt wings pressing tightly to the mud underneath. The last thing she saw was a pair of red eyes and two rows of deadly sharp fangs that enclosed on her body with a roar that shook the very foundation of the world.

“Cock a doodle doo!”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open as her heartbeat sky rocketed. She jerked her head up in blind panic and lost her balance. She shrieked and grabbed the quilt in last attempt of saving herself but to no avail. As a result, she was sent tumbling down to the feet of her bed with a loud thud. Dash immediately tried to stand up but banged her head on the underside of her nightstand scaring her even further and made a mug fall down and shatter.

Rainbow desperately tried to calm her wrecked nerves while laying under her night table.

It’s OK, that was just a bad dream, just another of those nightmares...

By this time Applejack was waken up by the horrible shriek that resounded in the whole house. She launched her body upwards, startled by her marefriend’s behaviour. Fortunately, she landed back on her bed and not on the floor. She looked around in concern and noticed that Rainbow was missing. She shifted to her marefriend’s place on the bed and took a peek over the edge of the bed. What she saw was a blue Pegasus sprawled on the floor with her eyes clenched tight and her whole body covered with cold sweat.

“Rainbow, are ya alright?” the concerned farmer asked “Did ya have another one of those nightmares darlin’?” She said in a softer voice.

At the sound of her name being spoken Dash tried to get on her shaky hooves. When she succeeded, she harshly whipped her head to the side, nearly slapping Applejack with her mane. She redirected her gaze at her wings.

“Ohhh... They are still there, intact,” she said with relief and flapped them a few times as if to check if they were working. They did. Checking them might seem childish for somepony but Dash was still too shaken to care.

Just then Rainbow noticed Applejack who watched her with mingled curiosity and concern.

“Hello Applejack, how was your sleep?” She said bluntly, as if nothing happened.

“Please tell me if you had one of those horrible nightmares again, sugarcube.”

Rainbow Dash started to be tortured by those nightmares after around a month of living with Applejack and working on the farm. First they started off as just a blur, but gradually the dreams got more detailed and terrifying along with occurring more often. The reason of them was unknown to either Dash nor Applejack.

“Yes, maybe that’s why I fell off the bed with a horrifying shriek...” Dash said rudely, a little insulted by the question. Why in the world would she fall of a bed if not from a bad dream?

“ Ah really would like to solve this problem and help you, but Ah really don’t know how to...” She looked dejectedly at the ground “Maybe a therapist would help, ya know-”

“Don’t bother, I’m perfectly fine,” Dash said, cutting down the conversation. She then headed to the exit, not looking back to Applejack. She slowly opened the door with shaky hooves and exited. In response, the farmer pony stood up and trotted after her. When she caught up with the Pegasus in the corridor, she stood next to her and nuzzled her cheek with her own. The Pegasus’ head was slowly moving with the motion, as if Dash didn’t put any effort to hold her head in place. After a few seconds of this strange affection, Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and pulled back with mild violence.

When she realised what she has done, she said “I’m sorry Applejack, I don’t know why I did that...” When no response came, she walked a few meters and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind herself.

The orange mare remained in her position on the corridor, her mind too shaken to make a move. Only the sound of the door to Big Mac’s room opening snapped her out of her deep thought.

“Hello there sis’,” He said as he saw his sister standing on the corridor, not facing him.

“Oh, howdy brother...” Applejack said, not even turning around “The bathroom is occupied, so ya will need to wait a second. Ah’ll go and wake Apple Bloom up.” With that said she turned and entered the little filly’s room without knocking.

When she entered the room, she put on a fake smile and added a fake merry tone to her otherwise sharp voice. “Wake up Apple Bloom, we have a brand new day ahead of us, and there is a lot of bucking to do.”

This is not the best motivation to get up from bed... She admitted in her thought and added, “You might get your cutie mark today.”

When Apple Bloom heard the last part, she had yet another take at getting her cutie mark, then leaped to the land of awake in no time at all. After opening her eyes and an unusually loud yawn she managed to say “Good mornin’ sis,” and shift to a sitting position on her bed. She proceeded to taking her big pink bow and placing it on it’s rightful position on top of her head.

“Hello Bloom.” Applejack sometimes used this diminutive out of laziness. “Its’ time to get up.”

When her duty of waking her younger sister was completed, she directed her steps towards the door.

“Hey sis!” Shouted Apple Bloom after her.

“Yes?”

“Yer missing something,” she said with a grin.

Oh, you are right... Ah’m missing something big here...

Apple Bloom motioned with a hoof to her head “Yer cowmare hat sis, ya forgot it,” she said, barely stifling a giggle.

Applejack’s train of thought was derailed by this statement. However, after a second it was rolling again.

Ah really need to help Dash, but how?

“HEY SIS!” the young mare hollered when she saw that her sister was not responding. “Sweet Apple Acres to Applejack, over!”

This time the young farmer succeeded in bringing Applejack’s mind back to Equestria.

She slowly moved her hoof and brought it down on her head. Instead of touching the rough material the Stetson was made from, it landed on her blond mane.

“Yer right Apple Bloom, Ah’m missing something,” She said as she turned around and walked out of the room, earning a surprised look from the young mare..

-«<♦>»-

“I want a vacation,” Rainbow Dash said.

The family was in the middle of a breakfast, devouring their pies without a word. Normally the table was loud with all the conversations that took place during family meals but due to the rather tense atmosphere that was introduced by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, over the past few days, things were quiet. When those words were spoken by Dash, all sounds ceased to be in that instant.

Applejack forcefully gulped on her food and stood up. “What do ya mean, do you want us to go somewhere-” She was cut off by the Pegasus’ voice.

“I want to go alone,” She said while meaningfully looking Applejack directly in her eyes, a thing she had not done in a long time.

“I want to rest from all this.” She motioned around with her hoof. “I’m really tired of this place. I really need to go.” She blinked and added, “Alone.”

“Darlin’ please, we have work ta do, this ought ta be the best apple buck season ever thanks to your help and- “ She once again was cut off by a cold stare from Rainbow.

“Really, Applejack? You value some bucking apples more than me?” She said in a loud tone, with a grave hint of accusation.

“No, Ah didn’t mean-” Applejack tried to apologize but Rainbow was already on her way to her room. She ascended the stairs and disappeared, only the sound of a shutting door could be heard.

Applejack heavily sat down on her chair again. She looked at the pie in front of her and sighed. “Ah really lost control...” she said with a sorrowful voice “I-Is this mah fault? Did Ah make some horrible mistake and maybe that’s why Dash d-doesn’t seem to l-love me anymore?” A single tear escaped her eye, running down her cheek and quietly landing on the floor.

“This is none of yer fault, sis. Ah’m sure that miss Rainbow just needs to take a rest.” Big Mac made a attempt at soothing her sister’s heart. “‘Sides, she was not used to working so much before moving into our house.”

“Ah hope yer right, Big Mac... Ah don’t know what is going on with her,” she said while trying to keep a brave face, “Th’ worst thing is that she doesn’t want to talk about it, every time Ah ask her she just cuts the conversation before it really starts, she never listens to me and all Ah want is us to be happy,” she said, her brave face faltering and tears threatening to flow again. Applejack got up and started walking towards the stairs. She didn’t want Apple Bloom to watch her strong sister cry.

“Ah’m not hungry” she said in a raspy voice and ascended the stairs.

“Hey brother, what is going on? Why is Rainbow Dash acting so strange recently?” Apple Bloom asked in her naivety. “Ah don’t understand.”

“Ah don’t understand either, little sis,” he said as he continued to eat his pie.

-«<♦>»-

Applejack entered their bedroom and watched as the Pegasus silently packed her suitcase, with a grim expression on her face. For a while she did not know what to say to the cyan mare, she felt like a mere spectator of her own life; as if she could not control any aspect of it.

After a few seconds of pondering about what to say to her marefriend, she only managed in a hoarse voice, “Where ya going Dash?”

“I haven't decided yet,” she replied as she packed a few of her clothes into the suitcase. Walking around naked in a small town like Ponyville was acceptable but showing yourself in that condition in any big city could earn you some unpleasant glances.

“Probably Manehattan or Stalliongrad.” She wondered, “I need to be free, party, wake up at twelve o’clock in the morning... In other words, I need to rest from all this.” She once again made a circular motion around with her hoof.

“Ah’m not going to stop ya but when do ya plan to come back?” She looked at the packing mare. “After the apple buck season is over?”

“Probably,” Rainbow said, as she packed the few final things and closed the suitcase. She put the small suitcase on her back. It would not fall down thanks to a special set of harnesses that kept it in place.

“I’ll catch the next train to Canterlot.”

Dash had to go there anyway. The train station in Canterlot was a center station from which trains went to all possible locations in Equestria, including Manehattan or Stalliongrad. There wasn’t a direct connection between these cities and Ponyville.

“I’m sorry,” the Pegasus said.

Is she apologizing?

“I said I’m sorry,” Dash repeated, a little louder than the first time.

Applejack realised that she was standing in the doorway and that Dash wanted to go through it. The farmer moved out of the way, into the corridor with a pout on her face. Dash proceeded to descend down the stairs. When she was downstairs and near the front door, she looked back at Applejack and her family.

She opened her mouth to say something but no words escaped. She stood there with her mouth slightly opened for a second. Then she looked at the ground, closed her mouth and opened the front door. Dash looked outside at the beautiful orchard as if hesitating for a moment. With a deep sigh she slowly walked out and, without a word, closed the door behind her. When Applejack looked out of the window, she saw Rainbow take into the air towards the town’s train station.

Please come back Dashie... Applejack thought with a heavy frown.

Chapter Four

Winds of Change

Chapter Four

Knock.

“Ah’m coming.”

Knock knock.

“Geez, where’s the fire?”

Knock knock BAM.

At this, Applejack ran to the front and opened it forcefully, half concerned and half mad.

“Maith!” Derpy yelled, her face two inches from Applejack’s and her words made nearly incoherent by the envelope she held in her mouth. The orange pony took the slightly wet envelope and went to the kitchen to fetch a muffin as a payment for her mail.

“Here ya go,” she said as he passed the muffin to the ditsy Pegasus. She grabbed it and gobbled in a matter of seconds.

“Thanks!” she said, and flew off with a enormous grin.

Applejack sat near the table and teared the envelope apart, careful to keep the letter intact. As she opened it she recognized Rainbow’s hoof writing style. She began to read the note from her marefriend. At first she was happy to receive mail but as she began reading her expression changed to a one of concern and sadness. When the letter was read Applejack’s face was overtaken by grief.

She stood up on shaky hooves, and a violent sob escaped her lips. A dam broke behind her eyes and tears started to fall uncontrollably. She ran to her room as fast as she could and landed on her bed, crying profusely.

“Why!?” she managed through heavy sobs as her body curled into a small ball, her hat landed on the floor, forgotten, “Oh Celestia, WHY!?”

The cold evening wind from the open door moved the letter slightly, and the contents read:

Dear Applejack

As you know I went on a short vacation to Manehattan. You must know that I am having a great time in here! All the bars, nightclubs and parties are making me crazy! But you know that this is my way of relaxing and resting from all the work on the farm. Guess what! I met this awesome stallion on a party. His name is Buckley and he is really awesome and cute! Imagine this: he told me that he was in Ponyville some time ago!! How could I miss him? Anyway he said that he was about to be married with somepony from Ponyville but she escaped at the last moment! What a lost chance! For her of course! Because this guy is really great. Anyway I wanted to write to you to say that I won’t probably be going back to the farm. This guy has a small apartment here and I’m already moving in. I think I love him!!! I’ll probably send a rented chariot to collect my remaining things.

Rainbow Dash

-«<♦>»-

Applejack woke up with a strong grasp for air and violently shifted into a sitting position on her bed. It was dark, the only light coming from the moon lurking in the window. She panicked and looked around, only seeing the outlines of furniture. She gently touched her face with a hoof to find her cheeks slightly damp. She felt like crying again, but overcame it and stood up. Suddenly a thought sprung to her mind. She needed to check something, fast.

The farmer slowly got up from the bed and stood on wobbly hooves. Applejack let out a quiet sigh that was filled with sadness. She started cautiously walking towards the door. When it was reached and opened by the orange mare, she looked down the corridor. The stairs leading to the kitchen were immersed in darkness. She stepped out and cautiously started walking without closing the door.

The gait seemed painfully slow, each step was a decade in Applejack’s mind. On top of that the thought was nagging at her, it’s strength increasing with every step taken. She could not take it anymore, tears threatening to fall again. She forgot about the rest of her slumbering family and ran downstairs. When in the kitchen, she hastily looked for the matches and a candle. It was almost too dark to see, but the matches and a candle were set directly under the window, so they would be easy to locate even in the night.

The small flame danced around, briefly illuminating all of Applejack’s features, and dimmed, threatening to die down but after two seconds it strengthened and stabilized. The cow pony directed the light to the table and scanned it. Apart from a candlestick and old vase with a single red flower in it there was nothing on it. The orange mare sighed in relief. No letter.

She put the candle on the candlestick and, feeling childish, looked under the table just to make sure the sinister letter wasn’t laying down there. It, thankfully, wasn’t. The farmer let out yet another sigh of relief, nearly all tension and anxiety escaping her. She felt a pang of guilt that she believed that this nightmare could be real. That she doubted Rainbow to even come back. How could she doubt in her friend... no, marefriend so much? Was it all from her recent behavior? That she left, almost without a word? Leaving the whole family in the midst of the apple bucking season? Applejack let those questions to stay in her mind for a second. Looking for answers in the depths of her mind.

Applejack could not be angry with Rainbow Dash. Not for long. During their whole relationship they did not have nearly a single argument and all of those over things so trivial as food or getting up early. Those arguments died off as soon as they started, because Applejack did not have the heart to argue with her love. Even if Dash’s mouth turned into even the slightest frown, Applejack’s heart wold immediately soften and the argument would be over.

Although Applejack was hiding behind a shell of ‘the strong farm pony,’ she was very hurt when Dash left to go on a vacation. She did not expect such behavior from her love. The Pegasus seemed to ignore her marefriend’s feelings back then.

Dash could clearly see in what state Ah was back then but she didn’t seem to care, Applejack sadly mused. The thought brought even more tears to her eyes. She did not want to think how the blue mare repaid her for her dedication and devotion.

Ah’m sure that Rainbow’ll be alright when she returns to th’ farm... Ah hope...

With that she walked slowly to the stairs and ascended them. She thanked Princess Celestia that none of the family members woke up. As friendly as Applejack was, she really didn’t want to see anypony at the moment.

The farmer quietly got to her room, shut the door behind and lay in her bed. As she laid her head on the pillow she felt that it was moist in one spot. Applejack deducted that she must have been crying harder than she thought she was.

-«<♦>»-

Six days passed and Rainbow was still gone. The apple buck season was nearly over. While it could be better with the help of the blue Pegasus, the Apple family still managed to make it pretty successful. Applejack found out that hard work was soothing her nerves and calming her mind. She spent hours on senseless bucking. The more time she spent on bucking, the less she spent on thinking about Rainbow.

It was the evening of the last day of the apple buck season. The sun would be setting soon, the sky already adopting an orange tint. The sun was casting long shadows on the orchard’s trees. The family was sitting near their kitchen table, waiting for their dinner to be ready. Their conversation was driven to the topic of apples, as usual. Big Mac was explaining how to make the best apple fritters in ponyville to Apple Bloom, who listened with a eager look on her face. She was absorbing every detail of it, as if it was the most enthralling story in the world.

Applejack managed to keep her mind off Dash for the past two days. She was so absorbed by the apple buck season that she seemingly forgot about Rainbow Dash leaving. However, that was not entirely true, because Applejack did not forget about her marefriend. The thought of her became so nagging and unbearable after her disappearance that she did her best to repress the memory of her sudden leaving. She almost succeeded, she nearly managed to forget. Although the thought still remained in the unconscious part of her mind. While it was repressed it was gathering strength and getting larger.

Applejack put a hoof to her forehead, the words of her big brother no longer being received by her mind. Her vision dimmed slightly and all of her brainpower concentrated on one pony. Rainbow Dash.

Ah forgot... Ah really nearly managed to forget about the only and true love in mah life!

The farmer got a horrible headache all of the sudden. She clenched her eyes shut, her mouth grimacing. The thought of her love, banished from her mind for so long, now was returning with doubled strength.

Applejack rose from her seat and all eyes instantly turned to her. She stood there for a second, hoof still pressed to her sweating forehead. The farmer slowly walked to the staircase and ascended leaving her bewildered family in her wake. She slowly walked inside her room and closed her door. She walked half way to her bed and stopped. The tension had become unbearable. Applejack stood in the middle of her room and bit on her foreleg to keep herself from screaming. Despite of all the effort, a long and horrifying scream escaped her lips, muffled only by her foreleg. She was biting so hard that a small drop of blood started flowing, staining her coat red.

She released her hoof and launched herself on the bed. She landed and shoved her face into her pillow and screamed again.

“Where are you Dash!?” She paused for a breath and continued.

“Come back to me! Ah need ya!” She yelled into the pillow, which only made her voice incoherent.

She felt forgotten. Left by her only love in life. She could not shake the thoughts of Dash finding somepony in Manehattan. No matter how strong she tried, she could not stop her mind from projecting visions of her beloved marefriend, finding some stallion in a club in Manehattan. The stallion was uncaring, ignorant and dirty, and Rainbow still preferred him over Applejack. He always had a very small, cramped and filthy apartment somewhere in the worst district in the city. Rainbow still chose this over living in the farm house of The Sweet Apple Acres. He was often jobless and Dash would have to work hard to keep their head above water. She still preferred this over the stability and security of the farm.

After being shoved aside, the thoughts became unstoppable. Without the ability to stop those projections Applejack was slowly spiraling into depression. She was scared that Rainbow Dash will not return, that she will send a letter similar to the one she was sending in Applejack’s nightmares.

-«<♦>»-

Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh exchanged concerned glances. The stallion let out a sigh and rose from his chair.

“Where are you going Big Mac? What is going on with Applejack? Is it about Rainbow Dash not returning for so long?” Asked Apple Bloom, her eyes getting teary. “Will sis be happy again?”

The red stallion went to her little sister and hugged her, “Ah’m sure Applejack will be okay,” he said while holding Apple Bloom close to his heart. “Rainbow Dash just needs to grab some rest and will come back. I hope by then Applejack will be happy again. Ah really need to go and talk with her.”

He released Apple Bloom. Her mood was a little better now. Her expression changed to a semi-happy one. The small pony looked at her brother and said, “Ah hope that what yer sayin’ is true... Ah really can’t stand the fact that my sis is not entirely happy. Go and make her feel better like ya made me feel better.”

Big Mac nodded, walked to the stairs and climbed on the second floor. He silently opened the door to his sister’s room and entered closing the door behind him.

He found Applejack laying on her bed facing up with a blank expression on her face. She was not moving, aside from blinking sporadically. Her breath was surprisingly steady, considering the fact that she was just screaming and crying. Her eyes were puffy and her coat was stained under her eyes; her battered hat was lying beside the bed.

Big Mac didn’t know what to say. He knew he had to ease her sisters stress and anxiety but he didn’t know how. Situations like this were rare in the Apple family and this was the first time he had to face one like this.

He scratched the back of his head with a hoof. The silence prolonged and the situation was getting awkward. The stallion managed, “hello sis,” and immediately scolded himself in his mind, but continued. “How can Ah help you?”

“Ah’m trying not to think about... her,” Applejack said, and shut her eyes. “And it was going quite well until now.”

“Ah know that the whole thing is about Rainbow Dash. But you shouldn’t get so worked up about her, Ah’m sure she will come back,” he retorted, trying to be reassuring.

“Ah don’t want to hear any of that right now. Ah’m going to sleep. Please, leave,” she said, her gaze still concentrated on the ceiling. Her face was neither a frown nor a smile. Somepony could say that all emotions were sucked from her. That’s how her face was: resembling no emotion.

“Don’t you think that it is a little ea-” her brother tried to retort, but was cut short by Applejack.

“Please just leave and let me think. Ah’ll see ya tomorrow,” she said, not moving a inch.

Big Mac looked at the floor defeated, cursing the fact that he was so inexperienced in handling such situations. He silently moved to the window and drew the drapes together. The room instantly became immersed in darkness. Though it was hard to see, Applejack did not make a move. Her brother then went to the door and through it. Before shutting it he whispered:

“It’ll be OK, ya’ll see.” With that he gently shut the door. He proceeded to the kitchen where a concerned Apple Bloom sat.

“How did it go? Did ya make her feel better?” She asked looking the stallion right in the eyes. From his face she sensed that not every thing went according to plan.

“Well, it didn’t go as Ah imagined, she went to sleep,” he responded to the first question, intentionally omitting the second one. “She is worried that Rainbow will not come back.”

“But she will, yes?” Apple Bloom asked, as if she expected her brother to know everything.

“Ah sure do hope so...” he responded and sat near the table in deep contemplation.

Soon after, they made themselves a dinner and ate it in silence. By the time they finished, Luna already rose her moon, it’s light shining gently through the kitchen window. When they got aware of the time, they got upstairs and washed themselves. After putting her sister to sleep Big Mac stopped by Applejack’s door and listened. He could hear very silent and irregular snoring. He only hoped that she didn’t have any nightmares, like she tended to in recent days.

Chapter Five

Winds of Change

Chapter Five

The sound of the approaching train grew louder and louder. When it was close enough, it began to stop, making a loud screech. When it finally came to a halt and the doors opened, a few ponies exited the train an the Ponyville station. Among them was a certain cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane. She walked a few steps away from the train and looked up at the sun, clenched her eyelids slightly and tried to determine the time. It was nearly midday.

Rainbow Dash lowered her head and looked down on to the ‘Mane Street’ that stretched before her. She tightened the set of harnesses that her bag was equipped with and walked through the station and onto the mane street. Flying with a heavy bag strapped to yourself was not easy, even for the best flier in Equestria.

She was walking for a few minutes now. She silently wished that her walk could be much longer. She didn’t really know what to do.

I-I don’t really want to go back there...

The thought escaped before she could really control it. She felt disgusted by herself for thinking this way, but deep inside her heart she knew this to be true.

But I need to go back there! I have a loving marefriend waiting for me, she, for sure, is concerned about me...

Rainbow Dash felt lost. She needed some more time to rethink the whole situation. She planned to think on it during the long train ride, but she dozed off from the mental strain this task was putting on her. She was regretting it now. Of course, she had plenty of time during her stay at Manehattan, but, then, she was trying to forget about her problems and have a good time.

Dash noticed that she was standing in the middle of the Mane street for quite a while now. She looked around and saw the entrance gate to the Ponyville’s main park. She decided that she will take a little break and rest there.

She walked through the gate and reached a small stone fountain that was comprised of three ponies. Each pony was the representative of each of the three pony tribes. Rainbow Dash selected a bench that faced the fountain to sit on. She walked to it, took her bag of and placed it near the feet of the bench. She then sat on the bench and concentrated her gaze on the fountain, she hoped it would calm her and let her think for a while.

Dash pictured Applejack in her mind. She examined the pony before her. But before she could reach any reasonable conclusion a yell had interrupted her.

“Hey! Rainbow! Rainbow Dash! Here!” yelled a familiar voice. Dash started to look around tying to localize the sound source. Her gaze has turned to the bench at the other side of the fountain. It was occupied by one of her best friends, Twilight Sparkle. Her friend was occupied by her favorite activity; reading. How could Dash not see her? She was perfectly across of the bench she chose to sit on. Dash really didn’t want anything to distract her, but at the same time she was not the kind of pony to just ignore a friend or pretend she never heard her.

“Hey, Twilight! I’m happy to see you!” she lied. She felt angry at herself, or rather at her own feelings. When did she became such a bad friend? At least she thought that she became a bad friend.

Twilight waved at her, getting a little concerned if the Pegasus was going to move at all. The Pegasus did. She took the bag in her teeth and slowly flew over the fountain. She always selected air over earth and the bag was not that heavy.

When she landed beside the purple pony and repeated, “Hey Twilight. I’m happy to see you.” She couldn’t really think of anything better to say or do so she just waited for a response, looking at the unicorn expectantly.

“Hello Rainbow! I think I saw you coming from the train station and I didn’t fail to notice the bag on your back. Did you go somewhere and just got back?” Twilight said quizzically, deductive as always.

Why did I have to meet this bookworm right now? She normally was more than happy to meet with her friends for a chat, but this was not a normal situation.

“Yea, I kind of went to Manehattan for a short vacation...” She trailed off, not knowing why she was so embarrassed of this. She suddenly got the feeling that she betrayed the Apple family is some way.

“OH, OK. You didn’t tell me anything! So now we have the time to cat-” She suddenly stopped as if she got enlightened by a brilliant idea. “Wait, I thought that the apple buck season just ended. If you were away, didn’t you miss it?” Twilight asked in genuine astonishment.

“Yea,” Rainbow Dash replied, “I missed it.”

Why is she poking her nose in other’s ponies business? She asked herself in her thoughts. She never had thought this under normal circumstances, but she was very worked up from the whole situation.

“So why did you miss it? I thought, now that you are technically a part of the family, that you should help with the apple bucking,” She said tilting her head slightly in concern. “Of course I would gladly hel-” She was cut off by the Pegasus.

“So do you think that now, I can’t do whatever I want to?” the cyan mare loudly retorted, anger clear in her voice. “You think that the family can hinder me with their, THEIR responsibilities? Well imagine that they can’t!” Dash now nearly shouted.

Twilight just sat there extremely bewildered. She honestly didn’t know how to respond to her friends outburst of unexplained emotion. They stared at each other for a while. Dash started regretting what she had done, her anger subsiding. The silence between them prolonged and got a little awkward. Rainbow couldn’t stand it anymore. She quickly grabbed one of her bag’s harnesses in her mouth and with a fierce flap of her wings took into the air. She looked down to see Twilight still looking at her, apparently at a loss of words. Rainbow started flying in a random direction, only to get away from her friend. The anger left, leaving place only for remorse.

When the fountain was far enough Dash landed. She looked around to notice that she landed on a small bridge. She let her bag fall on to it with a small thump. The cyan mare looked around and noticed that this was the bridge that lead to a small cottage that was home to a yellow Pegasus named Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash pondered this for a while. She could go to the Pegasus and be welcomed with opened hooves or go back to the farm. She really could not select the latter, for reasons she even did not know.

Rainbow Dash took into the air, leaving her bag on the bridge. When at an appropriate elevation she looked at the distant Apple family farm house. She just couldn’t go back there. Even the sight of the house was somehow discouraging her from going there. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she wanted to come back there, she could not. She tried to decipher her own feelings. Maybe she grew bored from the mundane life of an earth pony?

Her train of thought was once again derailed by a familiar yell. This time the yell was barely audible and incoherent from this altitude for the cyan pony. She looked down to see her Pegasus friend, Fluttershy standing near on the bridge that Dash was standing not seconds ago.

The airborne Pegasus descended to meet with her friend on the bridge. When her hooves touched the bridge Fluttershy meekly said, “Hello, um, Rainbow. If I may ask, what are you doing in front of my cottage? OH, of course I’m not angry or anything, I’m just asking...”

“OH, hello ‘Shy,” the blue mare responded, looking at her friend. “I don’t really know what am I doing...” She trailed off and fell silent.

Fluttershy immediately noticed that something was not right with her friend. “Do you plan, um, to go somewhere?” she said. looked at the black bag that was laying in front of the Pegasus and redirected her eyes back on Dash.

“No, not really. I just go back from a short vacation in Manehattan.” Dash responded and hoped that the conversation will not end like the last one she had with Twilight.

“So you missed the apple buck season!” Fluttershy said loudly, as loud as she can get, when she realised the truth. “Wasn’t Applejack a little upset that you, um, left and did not help with the apple harvest?”

The cyan mare was mildly surprised that Fluttershy was faster than Twilight in deducting this out. At the same time she felt the same rush of anger when the apple bucking was mentioned. This time however she tried her best to keep those feelings at bay.

“Yes, I missed it...” Rainbow once again said and looked down. “I know that I shouldn’t have missed it, but I was slowly freaking out in the farm house... I really needed to get out of there... I don’t really know what happened to me then.” She did not look up from the ground.

“Do you want to come in?” Fluttershy asked. She saw in what mood her friend was in. “Come, let’s go,” she said, not waiting for a response. Her voice was meek but firm at the same time. The yellow Pegasus took Dash’s bag in her mouth and went towards her cottage. Rainbow didn’t have a choice now. She didn’t want to talk with anypony now but deep inside she knew that she could use the help of Fluttershy.

As they entered, Angel Bunny looked at the newcomer for a second. When he recognised Dash, he assumed that she was of no harm and concentrated on devouring the small carrot that lay before him.

Dash sat on the couch and looked at her yellow friend expectantly.

“Do you want something to drink? Or, um, eat? I have anything that you might want to have...” she said, caring and motherly as always.

“No, thanks, I’m not hungry, thirsty or anything really...” She trailed off once again.

Fluttershy seated herself on a blue hoof-chair that was next to the couch and looked tight into Dash’s eyes. “Se tell me Rainbow, what has happened?” she said with a small encouraging smile.

“Well, as you know me and Applejack are together for a while now. Recently, before my vacation in Manehattan, I started feeling... strange.” She stopped to take a breath and to ponder how to translate her feelings into words. “I... felt overwhelmed.”

“Overwhelmed by what?” the canary mare gently asked. She was very careful not to push on the subject; it was rare for Dash to open up like this.

“I... I don’t think I know.” She closed her eyes, as if this was supposed to help her with coming up with an answer.

“Did the vacation help you? Did you feel better?” the timid mare asked. She needed to collect as much information as she could for effective help.

“Yes! Yes it did...” the tomboy pony said loudly and then felt silent. “I felt free in Manehattan... you know, all the parties, sleeping late into the day,” she hesitantly continued. “But now when I’m supposed to come back to the farm I feel all of that happiness and... freedom escaping from my body.”

Fluttershy looked at her friend for a moment and opened her mouth to say something, but her sentence was cut off before it started by Dash.

“What the hay is wrong?” Rainbow said loudly looking back at the floor, her face a confused and pained frown. “I... l-love Applejack...” She said and paused for a moment. “Yea! I love her.” This time it sounded slightly more convincing.

“I think I know what the problem might be,” the yellow mare finally said, although her face was no longer a smile. It now was a slight frown, as if she was on the verge of tears. “You are a Pegasus, Rainbow.”

“Yea, I noticed, you know!” Dash loudly admitted. Anger was slowly overtaking her, she thought that her best and lifelong friend is making fun of her.

“Wait!” The meek Pegasus said unusually loudly. “I didn’t finish.”

When Dash heard that she tried to distinguish the flame of her anger; she knew that her friend wasn’t really making fun of her. Rainbow just was worked up about the whole ordeal lately. She fell quiet and let the mare beside her continue.

“I think, um, that since you moved to Applejack you led a life of an earth pony. You got up early, went to work, and went to sleep early. This can be OK for somepony like me,” she hesitantly continued, “but not for you Dash. I think that the thing that you was so overwhelmed by was... a sense of limitation, if you understand me...”

Dash nodded slowly, starting to understand the whole situation.

“I don’t think you can live on the ground Dash... you are meant for the skies. Tell me, when was the last time you flew? Not to move something, but just for fun, for the, um, rush of adrenaline,” Fluttershy questioned her friend.

Rainbow opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. She thought about this. She didn’t remember. Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Equestria, the only pony able to perform the dazzling Sonic Rainboom, didn’t know when was the last time she went flying.

“I-I don’t remember...” she admitted slowly. “I was flying here and there during my stay at the Sweet Apple Acres, but never for fun.”

“You see...” the shy pony said with a smile but then immediately frowned. “Don’t be mad at what I’m about to say next,” she quietly said, looking at the floor.

“No, I won’t be mad...” Dash responded absentmindedly, still a little dazed by the revelation.

“I think that you need... to go back to your cloud house... OH, not forever, I would never advise you two to break up... I meant for some time only... I think this will do you good,” the yellow Pegasus advised and tried to look reassuring.

“I think that this is a good idea...” the light blue mare replied. “For only some time... I will come back.” she said more to convince herself than anypony else.

Fluttershy was about to respond but was cut short by a loud and hasty knock on the door. The timid mare hid behind her luxurious pink mane with a soft ‘eek’.

-«<♦>»- About a hour earlier -«<♦>»-

“This was sure some delicious pie!” Apple Bloom said with glee after eating her apple pie. The whole Apple family was sitting near their table in the farm house kitchen. They were having some late brunch.

“So sis, when are ya headin’ out?” Big Mac asked Applejack in his usual calm voice. Now that the apple harvest was over the Apple family was left with sore muscles and tons of apples. The apples had to be sold before they rotted, which was an awfully short period of time. Some apples were taken by carriages to factories in bigger cities like Stalliongrad. However, there were always some apples left, so the family members had to sell them in the town. This was Applejack’s task for today.

“We finished eating so Ah’m going right now,” she said. The farm pony managed to calm down a little since her outburst yesterday. She was still a little shaken but she was sure that Dash will come back to her. She came to this conclusion while laying lifelessly on her bed last night. Applejack didn’t expect Dash to just outright leave her and stay in Manehattan.

She slowly got up from the table and thanked for the meal. She exited the house without another word and headed to the shed. Inside was a cart full of apples and a special folding apple stand connected to the cart, so they could be pulled at the same time by one pony. The stand was a box, smaller than the cart. It had a lever on its side that, when pulled, a few shelves popped out from the stand to advertise the apples, and a counter to make the sales on.

She put the harness on her back and moved out of the barn. After a short, but exhausting ride, she arrived at Ponyville’s main square. She set up the stand, put apples on it and moved behind the counter to wait for customers. A short while the first customer arrived. He was a dark blue Pegasus stallion with a black mane and long tail.

“Hello, I would like to buy a braeburn, a fresh one, if available,” he said with a small smile.

“Welcome to our Apple stand, Apple family apples the best brand!” Applejack absentmindedly recited from her memory and put a ripe braeburn on the counter. “That’ll be three bits sir.”

The stallion placed the desired amount of bits on the counter and grabbed the apple in his mouth. With a muffled “Have a nice day!” he ran of to a destination known only to him.

Applejack didn’t have time to think about the peculiar behavior of her customer because nopony other than Twilight Sparkle came to the apple stand. She was levitating a book near her.

“Hello Applejack!” she happily stated when close enough.

“OH! Howdy there, Twi! How can Ah serve ya?” the mare responded looking at her dear friend.

“I would like a red gala if you’ll manage, please,” she said with a pleasant tone.

“Of course Ah’ll manage,” Applejack responded and handed the apple. “Two bits please,”

When Twilight payed and levitated her new snack she remembered something.

“Hey Applejack, I saw Rainbow Dash earlier today! Her behavior was... odd,” she said thoughtfully.

When the earth pony heard this her ears perked up and her face immediately turned to her friend. “Really!?” she shouted. “Where is she? AH didn’t see her for over a week! Why didn’t she come to me...” she added, not so loud that time.

“Well I saw her at the park less than a hour ago. She said that she was on some kind of vacation and just arrived at Ponyville. When I asked if she missed the apple buck season she got suddenly very angry, shouted something about that that she can do whatever she wants and flew off.” She stopped for a while, then continued. “When I got rid of the initial shock she was already too far away to hear me.”

“Where did she fly to?” Applejack asked with a very urgent tone. She looked if she was about to break down in front of Twilight. “Where did she fly to!?” the farmer repeated, louder and more insistent than last time.

“I think that she flew somewhere in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage, but I’m not one hundred percent sure,” she gingerly responded, slightly taken aback from experiencing a second outburst today.

Without another word spoken Applejack started running in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage leaving the stand and the cart to Twilight. Her screams for her to wait weren’t effective at the slightest.

Why the hay didn’t she come back to me? Applejack kept repeating in her mind over and over again. With every repeat the thought was getting louder.

When the athletic pony finally made it to the cottage she skidded to a halt in front of the door. She swung her hoof backwards and hit the door in a powerful knock that would wake up a slumbering bear.

A / N - Please comment and rate! Don’t worry, I happily read constructive criticism and praise even happier.

Chapter Six

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)

Chapter Seven

Winds of Change

Chapter Seven

Rainbow Dash slowly awoke from her slumber. She stirred in her bed for a couple of seconds, and let out a yawn that was long and, for Rainbow being a mare, quite loud. She sat up in her bed and finally decided to open her eyes. The light pouring through the hole in the wall, which was her window, momentarily blinded her. After getting used to the light, she surveyed her surroundings and noticed that she was not at the farm house. After a few moments of taking in her surroundings, she recalled what happened yesterday. She was flooded by a mix of emotions; she felt uneasy, unsure of herself, and she regretted what she had said to her friend. But what concerned her the most was the fact that she felt relief; she felt free, and she felt slightly happy.

She got out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. When she had done her daily washing routine she once again stepped into the bedroom and looked at the clock. By the light that shone through the window she guessed it was quite late. Looking at the clock, she confirmed that she was right; it was eleven o’clock in the afternoon.

Dash sighed. She thought about the farm. With a small smirk, she recalled the fact that if she stayed on the farm she probably would already be up for a few good hours, doing various jobs around the farm. She looked around. She could do anything! No chores to do, no apples to buck, no set time of waking up, just freedom. She pondered for a second on what to eat for breakfast.

She walked to her kitchen and looked around; the place was abandoned by her quite a while ago. There was a pile of dirty plates in the sink. Dash looked at them, wondering if she should clean them, but decided against it with a short “Nah”.

The colorful mare opened the fridge and saw a bag of hay fries amongst some other things like a unidentified substance in a bowl with a spoon in it, a few cans and jars, a slice of pizza on a plate and some alcohol. She took the bag of hay fries, opened it and let the fries fall onto a frying pan. After the fries were fried she placed them on a plate and the plate on the table. She threw the frying pan on top of the other dirty dishes in the sink, and sat down near the table. Dash looked on the fries and realized that she would be eating a meal not containing apples for the firs time in many weeks. With a smile she devoured the still hot fries.

After the meal was finished Dash pondered on what to do for the rest of the day. After living on the farm for two or three weeks she resigned from her work as a weather mare. That meant that she could do whatever she wanted, for now of course. The thought of getting her job back was lurking somewhere in the back of her head, but she didn’t dedicate too much attention to it, not just yet.

An idea occurred to her. She looked back at her wings and gave them a few flaps. The Pegasus didn’t ponder the decision for too long and trotted to the main door, leaving the dirty plate on the cloud table.

Rainbow opened the door and immediately was overtaken by the atmosphere. The air had a fresh morning scent to it. The gentle breeze fanned her form, instantly refreshing her. The air was slightly chilly at this altitude, but it wasn’t a problem for Rainbow Dash: she was born for this. She spread her wings, immediately catching wind. She smirked, ran the few meters to the edge of the cloud, and jumped.

She folded her wings for aerodynamics and let her form plummet head first to the ground for several seconds. The wind whistled in her ears and ruffled her mane, her tail whipping furiously behind her. The sudden rush of adrenaline cleared any left over signs of sleep. When the ground was dangerously close, the brash Pegasus did a barrel roll and finally decided to reopen her wings.

She started leveling up on a soft arc, flying between the buildings in the Ponyville outskirts and startling a few ponies. The feeling of flying again pushed all of Dash’s emotions Into the back of her mind, replacing them with pure happiness and joy. Rainbow started to pull up and soon was amongst the clouds again. She perched on one of the clouds, breathed heavily and looked down on Ponyville with a smile plastered on her face.

Oh, it surely does feel good to be back home! She thought with a laugh.

Rainbow couldn’t stand to stay in one place for too long. A few seconds later she jumped, went right through the center of the cloud she was sitting on and opened her wings again. Flying always served as a way of clearing her mind. It helped her forget.

The Pegasus spotted a nearby lake and headed towards it. She gained speed and descended to fly just above the otherwise stoic lake. The powerful flaps of her wings created ripples of water that traveled to the very edges of the lake and disappeared. Dash lowered her fore hoof and dipped it in the water, creating a exquisite cascade of tiny water droplets, shimmering in the sun and creating a elusive rainbow when combined with the rays of sunlight. The water dampened Rainbow’s coat and mane; this further refreshed the Pegasus, and pumped even more joy into her heart.

When the show was over the mare landed at the edge of the lake with a thud, and gazed in awe at the rainbow she just produced. After the rainbow dissipated in the air, Dash once again rocketed into the air with speed that would make any Pegasus envious. She continued doing various tricks including loop-de-loops, barrel rolls and figures of eight between clouds.

After an hour or so of this exhausting but rewarding ‘task’, the Pegasus landed on the sand near the lake. She breathed heavily, but was smiling. An idea occurred to the mare.

Well, well, well, isn’t this the time I used to take naps at? she thought with a ever growing smirk.

After a short moment of wondering whether to rest on a tree or a cloud, she chose the latter. Dash flew up to a suitable cloud with a few powerful flaps and landed atop of it. She laid down, shifted for a few seconds and tried to ease her mind. At first, it was hard for her to close her eyes and try to dive into the land of sleep because of the adrenaline still pumping in her veins, but after a moment she finally managed to calm herself.

I missed you, freedom she managed to think with a smile just before falling into a deep sleep.

-«<♦>»-

“I miss you Dash,” Applejack whispered gloomily, while looking out the window in her room on the farm. She was searching the sky for any sign of her beloved mare for some time now, but to no effect.

The last night was nearly a sleepless one for the orange mare. Her mind was replaying the whole argument again and again in her mind, preventing her from sleeping, and only adding to her sorrow and sadness. Tears were streaming out of her eyes for the large part of the night; her pillow was soaked with them. When she finally managed to fall asleep she had another nightmare, but this time it was far worse than the others. This was of Rainbow Dash viciously leaving her for some filthy stallion in Manehattan.

The farmer also failed to get up on time to work on the farm. Her brother came to her room at the normal time to try to wake her up. When he entered, he saw his sister in a shallow and uneasy sleep, her breathing sounded irregular. He didn’t fail to notice that her pillow was wet and her mane was ruffled. He delicately tried to wake her up, and when he succeeded the mare refused to get up. When Big Mac got a little more insistent, Applejack threatened to tear up again, so the stallion left her. He never was the one to understand other ponies’ emotions well.

When she finally got up, she was mentally unable to perform any work, and it was slowly driving her crazy. She had to do something; she couldn’t stand sitting around, doing nothing. The rest of the Apple family was probably at the field working, and Granny Smith was surely sleeping peacefully in her rocking-chair.

The orange pony decided to leave her room; she was already sick of it. She laid her sight on the nightstand next to her bed, searching for her favorite hat, but she didn’t find it there. She guessed that it must have fallen of her head when she was galloping to the farm house after her disastrous argument with her love.

The thought of the argument, as brief as it was, was threatening to cause another downpour of tears, so Applejack exited her room and walked into the kitchen. As she had guessed previously, Granny Smith was asleep in her rocking chair, as she tended to in recent months.

The orange earth pony exited the farm house, hoping that the fresh air would help her to regain her composure, even partially. The warm and fresh air that enveloped the mare certainly helped to bring a little peace to her uneasy mind. She took a few deep breaths and stretched her back a little.

The farmer slowly started trotting down the path to proper Ponyville. The nature that surrounded the area never ceased to amaze her. The road trailed between seemingly never-ending rows of apple trees; the birds chirped happily, and other critters went about their business here and there. She could hear the faint sound of her brother bucking trees, and the joyful yells of her younger sister somewhere on the far end of the orchard.

After some time she exited the farm grounds and entered the village. Despite her effort she didn’t really feel nearly any better, in comparison to how she felt before exiting the house. Applejack understood that the beauty of the nature itself, however magnificent it was, won’t make her feel better; she needed to talk to someone. She didn’t choose anypony from the farm because of Apple Bloom being too young to understand and Big Mac not being the best when it came to consoling somepony.

After a moment of pondering who to go to, she made the quite obvious choice: Fluttershy. She was by far the best pony to go to in times of need like this. She decided she will look for her in the village’s main park. The yellow Pegasus could be frequently found there, caring for the various animals that inhabited the trees and bushes of the park.

When she entered the park through the gate, she found it nearly devoid of any ponies. The only ponies she saw were a dark blue stallion that she vaguely remembered selling apples to, sitting on a bench next to a mare that Applejack believed went by the name of Rose.

Applejack searched the whole park for her yellow friend, listening closely for her singing. She was often teaching the young birds that hatched and lived in the park to sing and chirp. But after several minutes Applejack understood that her effort was futile: her friend wasn’t here. She inwardly cursed herself for apparently being too shaken and absentminded to check the cottage first.

She started galloping to her friend’s cottage soon after. When she reached her destination, stopped in front of the door, and rose her hoof to knock, she hesitated. She didn’t really know what to say when her friend started asking questions, such as ‘why has the farmer visited her?’ She lowered her hoof, her mind deep in thought. This was the first time she had the need to tell somepony about her worries and troubles.

When she thought that coming here was not a good idea after all, the mare started to turn around to walk away. Right then the door to the cottage opened, revealing the yellow Pegasus on the other side.

“Um... Hello Applejack,” Fluttershy said shyly, her face partially obscured by her long pink mane. “I saw you run up to the door and stand there from the window on the second floor. When I saw that you wanted to knock, but turned away, I decided to come down,” she said, looking at the farmer with her big blue eyes.

“W-Well, howdy there, heh, Ah j-just-” Applejack stuttered uneasily.

“Shhhhhh...” Fluttershy quietly hushed her friend. “Is it about you and Rainbow Dash?” she said with a small reassuring smile.

Applejack didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s alright,” the yellow mare responded with her usual soft voice, and motioned to her friend to come into the house.

After the both mares entered, Fluttershy closed the door and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. She meaningfully tapped a place next to her with her hoof. When Applejack got the hint and sat down her friend started.

“I heard the whole argument that happened yesterday between you and Rainbow Dash. Tell me, um, what happened next... If that’s okay with you, of course.”

“Well, basically n-nothing happened, and that’s what worries me the most,” the blond earth pony responded. “I haven’t heard from Dash since I r-ran away from her yesterday.”

“Dash just needs some time alone... she needs to relax and rest from her work at the farm and I’m sure that she will come back,” the yellow mare said with a tender voice. “As you probably know, she came to me when she arrived in Ponyville. She needed to talk to me; she didn’t want to come back to the farm. So I told her that maybe she would take a break from, um, the farm and all,” she finished.

“Oh, really?” Applejack asked, looking up at the Pegasus. She couldn’t possibly be mad at her yellow friend; she knew that it wasn’t her fault. Dash might have done something worse if not for Fluttershy’s proposition. “And what did she say?”

“Rainbow agreed that this is a good idea and decided to do so. But she also told me that she will be coming back to the farm, she’s sure about that,” Fluttershy said with a gentle smile. She raised her hoof and gently placed it on her friend’s cheek. “So I’m sure that she will come back to a loving and caring marefriend like you are.” Fluttershy finished with a soft smile and a slight blush. She put her hoof back on the soft surface of the couch.

“Heh, thanks ‘Shy. She really must come back if she previously said so.” Applejack said with a small smile.

“Yes, I just know that she won’t break her word, and besides, she is the Element of Loyalty after all,” Fluttershy responded with a small chuckle, soon Applejack joined.

“Well, thanks again Fluttershy. Ah feel a lot better now and Ah don’t know what Ah would do without you,” Applejack said with a smile of gratitude. “Ah would love to stay but Ah need to get back to the farm... we are behind in apple bucking without me.” The blond pony got up from her spot on the couch and got to the main door.

“You are most welcome, see you then.” The meek Pegasus responded and waved goodbye to the mare, shooting her one last smile.

“Again, Ah’m sorry that Ah can’t stay longer, see ya!” the farmer responded, and left the cottage. Her mood was good enough for her to work again. Fluttershy worked wonders, as always. She directed her trot to the farm grounds.

After a short trip during which the nature seemed even more dazzling and marvelous for the orange mare then before, she reached the orchard. She searched a while for her brother and young sister. They were spotted by her, bucking trees somewhere on the edge of the orchard.

When she was close to them she quietly said, “Hello,” and looked down at the ground before her, with a small smile. She was embarrassed about her previous behavior. She didn’t want her family, especially her younger sister, to see her as a weak pony that easily cries. The farmer hoped that her younger sister’s opinion on her didn’t change too much, that she was still strong and fearless in her eyes.

“Oh.” Big Mac was slightly startled by the sudden appearance. “Well howdy there ‘sis, Ah thought you still was at your room in the farm house-”

“Hi ‘sis!” Apple Bloom cut in waving her hoof, exuberant as always. Big Mac gave her a flat look but she didn’t seem to notice. She soon went back to her attempts at successfully bucking a tree.

“Ah see that yer mood seems to be better, huh?”

“Well, heh, Ah went to see Fluttershy, and she helped me. We talked for a while and she said that Dash told her that she will come back to the farm when they talked. Ah’m sure that Dash will not break her word.”

“Well that’s certainly good to hear that you are back on track.” Big Mac said smiling. It was easy to tell that he loved his sister and was concerned about her well being, and was relieved when he heard what she said.

“And what’s better, Ah feel like working again.” Applejack admitted with a smile. Without another word spoken by the orange mare, she moved to the nearest tree and bucked it. The apples neatly fell into their baskets, this pony really knew how to do it.

“Whoa, ain’t my ‘sis a lil’ workaholic?” The red stallion said with one of his rare chuckles and went back to doing his job.

-«<♦>»-

As the moon started its slow but steady journey over the night sky, both of the mares were already in their beds. Dash was exhausted; after her nap she spent the whole day on flying and training for the Wonderbolts. While Applejack was sure that their relationship will be renewed between them, Dash wasn’t all that sure.

A/N - Here's the new chapter! Yay! If you have any feedback please leave a comment!

Chapter Eight

Winds of Change

Chapter Eight

-«<♦>»- A few days later -«<♦>»-

Beads of sweat formed on Applejack’s forehead, so she wiped them off with a quick swing of her hoof. She looked up at the sky and squinted slightly. Aside from a few clouds here and there the sky was perfectly clear. The sun was directly over head, it’s bright rays bathing the merry inhabitants of Ponyville. The farmer looked back down at the countless apple trees that surrounded her and then at the grass growing at her hooves. Her mind was deep it thought.

“Hey there, sis,” The voice of the husky red stallion resounded through the orchard, pulling Applejack from the depths of her mind. He was working in another part of the orchard, but apparently came to see his sister. “Still thinking about... her?” He said, chewing on a small corn stalk.

“Yes,” She replied with a sigh, “Ah’m concerned about her.” With this she looked up at the sky and spotted her friends cloud home, idly hovering over the town of Ponyville. She kept looking at it and released a long exhale. She then turned her face towards her brother.

“Don’t ya worry, Ah’m sure she will come back to ya,” Big Macintosh responded, looking right into his sister's eyes.

“Ah sure do hope so...” She responded and faced the ground, “Ah mean, she did promise she will, didn’t she?” The orange mare quietly said, looking up at her brother, as if seeking approval of her words.

“Yes, she did. And if she did that, that means that she will keep her promise, she is the Element of Loyalty, and you know that,” Big Mac answered, his words of reassurance lifting the orange mares mood, if only a little bit.

“Thanks Mac, thank you,” The farm pony paused, “Well... Ah don’t think that Ah can put it off for any longer, it’s time that Ah go and sell all those apples we managed to collect,” Applejack said, “It was kind of Twilight to return the applecart that Ah left when Ah went runnin’ after Dash.”

“Yes, Ah never doubted Miss Twilight’s good manners,” The red pony said. When he looked at his sister he noticed that she was again solemnly looking on the only cloud home hovering over the village. He turned to walk away to continue his laborious work. After a few steps he stopped, craned his neck backwards and added, “Good luck... and don’t worry.” When all was said, he immersed himself back into the endless rows of apple trees.

“Okay, okay” Applejack muttered under her breath, trying to collect her thoughts. She brought her gaze back down and noticed that her brother has vanished. With a small shake of her head she directed her trot to the barn. When she arrived and opened the big, red door she saw her all-too familiar apple cart and the stand connected behind it. She grabbed a nearby apple basket and poured the apples inside the cart. When the cart was full there were a few empty baskets left over. Applejack strapped the harness of the cart to her back with ease, the years of experience taught her well. The wheels started squeaking quietly when the mare started pulling the cart, her destination Ponyville main square.

When she arrived, she stopped and started setting up the whole business. She worked like a robot, nearly thoughtless. Her mind was occupied with other things at the moment, she just couldn’t stop thinking about her cyan friend. She was so pensive that she barely acknowledged that the apple stand has unfolded and it was time to put the apples on display. Applejack sighed and started to put the fruits on their rightful shelves. She sincerely hoped that conversation with some village ponies will help her take her mind off things.

When the stand was set up, the farm mare stood behind the counter, waiting for customers. She looked up at the sky and immediately noticed her friend humongous cloud home flying above the village. her thoughts once again drifted to her best friend Rainbow Dash.

Anywhere Ah look, Ah see her! She thought with pain. She was already sick of constantly being concerned about Dash, sick of her thoughts floating to the her subject, against her own will. She desperately needed some distraction.

To her fortune, she saw somepony walking right through the center of the Ponyville main square. The whole town seemed placid, nearly abandoned. Usually, there were a lot more ponies wandering the streets at this time. The pony Applejack spotted had a light blue mane with hints of purple and a light yellow coat to match. He appeared to be unicorn.

Applejack never got to know the town ponies as good as Pinkie Pie did. She just wasn’t that type, to go around and make friends with everypony she met. She did know a decent part of the citizens of Ponyville, but never had the time to meet all of them. She was spending way too much time back at the farm to be able to do it. So it didn’t really surprise her when she could not recall the pony’s name, so she decided to wait for the pony to come by the stand.

When the pony was walking right in front of the stand, not paying much attention to it or to Applejack, the farm pony said, “Hello there partner, care for a delicious apple?” She had said it louder than intended, and loud enough to violently pull the stallion from his thoughts. He whipped his head to the origin of the startling sound and noticed Applejack.

Before the unicorn was able to regain his composure and say anything, the seller added, “Heh, sorry, Ah’m a little shaken lately... Ah asked if you, maybe, would like a apple. We sell delicious red galas, brae-”

“No, thanks,” The stallion curtly responded, cutting the mare off, “I don’t want apples.” He said harshly, gave the farm pony a meaning look and continued with his walk as if nothing happened. When the stallion was taking a corner, Applejack frowned and admitted to herself that she was actually happy to not know the stallion’s name anyway. He didn’t seem a pleasant friend.

Before her thoughts could get to her again the blond mare saw another group of potential customers approaching from the other side of the square. She put on the best fake smile she could muster and patiently waited for the ponies to come.

-«<♦>»- A few hours earlier -«<♦>»-

Dash slowly opened one eye, yawned, and saw the brilliant sun rays shining through her bedroom’s window, illuminating the whole room. Rainbow closed her eyes, momentarily blinded. She shifted in her bed for a while, looking for a comfortable position to continue her sleep, but despite her efforts, every position she tried wasn’t right. After a few good minutes of her vehement struggle she let out a groan and sat up on her bed. She didn’t have the energy to get up, neither did she want to stay in the bed.

Her eyes opened slowly, steadily accustoming to the light. When this was done, she scanned the room and laid her gaze on the clock. Her mind was still hazy so it took her a while to comprehend what it was showing. It was around 11:30. She realized that she didn’t have any plans for the day, again. The mare stretched, getting a few satisfying pops out of her body, took the quilt in her hooves and threw it to the floor, exposing her body to the colder air. This technique always helped the lazy Pegasus to get up from bed.

The faucet of her sink was turned off when the mare finished her morning washing routine. When she headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge, she noticed that there was hardly something edible there. After a short ponder she came to the conclusion that she will have to order something if she wanted a breakfast.

The colorful mare contemplated the idea of breakfast in general. She didn’t really feel hungry, despite her sleeping in late. Maybe due to her laziness or real lack of hunger, she decided that she will go on a morning flying session. The mare hoped that the flying, the thing she loved the most, will refresh her and make her hunger return.

The wind blew right through her mane as she opened her main door. In a similar fashion as a few days ago, she started running towards the edge of the cloud her house was placed upon. Her wings snapped open as she performed a marvellous jump. She glided on a very soft arc, flapping her wings only a few times. When she could nearly touch the roofs of the Ponyville houses, she flew back among the clouds. The clouds were dissipating when the cyan Pegasus flew right through them with a high velocity, the water vapour moisturizing her mane and coat.

Increasing amounts of adrenaline were coursing through her body as she tried to make as much clouds spin as she could. She circled them, one by one, each spinning faster than the other. On the fifth cloud, when the centrifugal force was too much to take, the Pegasus let herself shoot out of the loop, towards the sky. The sheer velocity made her mane whip furiously behind her, and the change of air pressure made her ears slightly ache before she managed to level it.

When the gravitational pull managed to overcome her previous velocity, the Pegasus glided to a nearby cloud. There were little clouds at this altitude, most of them too light and thin to even stand on.

I’m probably higher than even Cloudsdale The mare mused to herself. Her Pegasus sight let her see her house, now only a tiny speck, probably around hundreds of meters below her. When she looked up, she saw that the sky had adapted a shade of darker blue, than viewed from the ground. The pony felt that she almost could reach out with her hoof and touch the sun itself.

After a long moment of gazing into the cosmos, the thin air made it difficult for the Pegasus to breath, despite the fact that her lungs were well adapted to such environment. She stood up, walked to the edge of the cloud and dove headfirst into the air. It was going to be a long fall, and Dash knew it. She didn’t open her wings, instead she let her form plummet towards the ground with a breakneck speed. Her eyelids closed and her mind drifted in to peace, no longer troubled with anything, soothed by the feeling of free fall. The whistle of the air in her ears was getting gradually quieter and quieter, all the other senses seemed distant and irrelevant.

The Pegasus let herself stay in this state of pure bliss. Her voice of reason ordered her to open her eyes. When she did so she noticed that the ground was dangerously close, the once small houses were growing rapidly. Despite this, Dash didn’t let dread get to her. Her wings snapped open at a thought, immediately catching air. Instead of trying to fight the velocity, Dash used it to glide on a quite rough ark, barely missing the rooftops of Ponyville.

The cyan mare felt that she had enough flying for now, and headed home. When she arrived at the threshold of her cloud home, she entered inside.

Well, that was... nice The cyan Pegasus thought to herself. Always after a flight session was completed the mare felt fulfilled and happy. This always cleared all of her problems, swiped them from her mind like with a broom. It filled her heart and mind to the brim with content, it nearly made her explode. She really was born to do it.

This time, like always, she was satisfied by her performance. It was a extraordinary run, even for a pony with Dash’s caliber, and she was proud of herself. Despite of the satisfaction, something... was missing. She was happy and fulfilled, but not to her usual point. Dash noticed this the day after her first flight in months, though the satisfaction and content was great, it wasn’t as it used to be. Dash really couldn’t quite put her hoof on this.

The Pegasus discarded the thought, the hunger started to grow inside her body. She entered her bedroom and kicked the wall in a seemingly random place. Everypony had a special place where they hid their bits. Was it a chest, a safe, or even a sock thrown under a bed, everypony had one. For Dash it was a very small room, hid in her bedroom from the outside world with a cloud wall, exactly the same as any other in the house. Inside of this room there was a small enchanted chest. The enchantment let the chest stay afloat on the cloud without sinking through it and falling to the ground.

The chest had a simple password system, three rotating circles with numbers on them. The circles had to be rotated so the correct numbers were facing one of the three small arrows, painted next to each circle.

When the password was entered and the chest creaked open, the Pegasus gasped at what she saw inside the chest, or to be more exact, what she didn’t see. Bits; there were maybe ten bits left, scattered around the inside of the chest. She gathered all of them into a small heap at the center of the chest, and looked at them solemnly. This was her entire wealth. It was barely enough to order a pizza, not to mention paying the enormous taxes for a cloud home of this size.

It just right now dawned on her that she didn’t work for a few days now, instead she was recklessly spending her bits on food and entertainment.

I need to get my job as a weather pony back! She thought, not even slightly content about her decision, she had always loath to do work. She put her hoof to her stomach, it rumbled, clearly demanding food. She grabbed roughly half of her possession and headed to the kitchen, where she placed the bits on the table. She grabbed a piece of parchment and started scribbling her order...

-«<♦>»- An hour and a half later -«<♦>»-

The Pegasus laid on her side, her stomach significantly bigger. She shifted on the couch to be on her back. On the table near the couch laid a empty pizza box and a half full opened bottle of pop. After eating the pizza, the mare had a small nap.

Well, it’s time to get up She thought with a internal sigh. Her body rolled of the couch, falling to it’s hooves with a thump. Dash made her way to the door, exited the house and headed to the Weather Department.

Each city like Canterlot, Manehattan, Stalliongrad or village like Ponyville had it’s Weather Department. Its job was to have the weather under control, at all times. Each day there was a weather forecast for the day placed on a small board in front of the building. It also was the only place for a Pegasus to get a job in the weather team. Dash wasn’t even sure if they wanted to hire her again. Sure she was the best worker on the team, its captain to be exact, but she was ‘unstable’ as Lightning Bolt, the director of the Weather Department, had put it.

The colorful mare landed in front of the Department. It was a three story building, with a big sign saying ‘Weather Department’ with a picture of a happy Pegasus on it, just above the main entrance. The building was filled to the brim with Pegasus ponies, aside from the weather team itself there were a lot of other ponies working there. Amongst other things they were planning what weather would be the best for the whole village in the next days, after all, who had a better understanding of weather than Pegasi themselves?

Before entering, she heard a conversation with a vaguely familiar voice, somewhere to the right of her. It was too far to discern by the voice itself. When she turned her head, she saw a unicorn with a yellow coat, heading away from-

No... Not now! Rainbow Dash thought panicky as she saw nopony other than Applejack standing behind the counter of her apple stand. The whole stand was rotated, so it didn’t face the Pegasus directly, but was facing her nevertheless. Rainbow sped and hid behind the corner of the Department. She honestly hoped that the earth pony didn’t see her. After a few tense seconds Dash didn’t hear Applejack’s voice calling, so she guessed that the pony didn’t see her.

She couldn’t face the earth pony now. The incidents from few days ago were still too fresh in her mind. She just didn’t have the courage to talk to the mare. She was afraid that Applejack will be truly angry for what Dash did to her. The colorful pony regretted the course of their conversation from a few days ago. She should have carried out the conversation better, so it wouldn’t turn into a argument, like it did. Rainbow Dash really had faith that Applejack didn’t despise her, she didn’t want to lose a close friend, she didn’t want the situation to end like with Gilda. The Pegasus never really got over the loss of her closest friend from her fillyhood.

Dash stole a look from behind the corner. Applejack was busy selling apples to a group of three ponies, she didn’t notice Dash.

C’mon! Go to her. Tell her that you are sorry, and hope that she will forgive you! With this thought Dash turned the corner and looked towards the stand. She started walking with very hard steps, barely forcing her legs to move. When she done a few steps, fear overcame her and she sped right through the door to the Weather Department. She leaned against the wall next to the still swinging doors, panting heavily.

“Huh?” Applejack said under her breath as she looked towards the Department. She heard a noise that originated from there, but saw nopony. The door was still swinging, indicating recent use. She just assumed that somepony simply entered the Department and soon forgot about the whole thing,

Dash looked through the window that was next to the door that she just went through. Applejack was still busy with her customers, she still didn’t appear to notice the Pegasus.

Rainbow Didn’t know the reason why she feared confronting the mare she hurt so much. She was suspecting that that was because she was scared to loose a close friend.

But this is nonsense! I’m SURE that Applejack is not mad at me... She thought to herself, putting great emphasis on ‘sure’. But in the depths of her mind, she knew that she wasn’t so sure.

I’m... okay... with losing a marefriend, but not a friend! The lack of knowledge was eating her up. She didn’t even know if she was okay with losing a marefriend now. She couldn’t stand it for a lot longer.

A short “*Ahem*,” violently crashed the Pegasus’ train of thought, startling her. She turned her head to the origin, which turned out to be Merry May, standing behind the reception counter of the Department. “How can I help you?” She asked quizzically. Behind the mare a few clocks hung, showing the time around the vast lands of the world. The interior was fairly simplistic. There was a water dispenser and a few chairs aligned to the right wall. The left one had potted fern in the corner and a door leading to a room for personnel only, probably leading behind the counter. Next to the counter a door leading to the stair case was placed. The floor was carpeted with a red carpet that covered the whole floor.

“Heh...” Dash let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her hoof with the other, looking at the ground. When the silence got a little awkward, Dash rose her sight to meet Merry.

“Umm, hello. I came to work as a weather pony, like I did a few months ago. I was the team’s captain,” Dash responded immediately getting to the point. She was still a little shaken.

“Hmmm, you was? I think that I remember... If that’s true then please head to the last floor to see the director of the Department, Lightning Bolt.” She paused, “But if she doesn’t recognise you...” She let the sentence hang, leaving the rest to Dash’s imagination. “You don’t start to imagine how many ponies try to get the job by lying, just to skip filling the easy application form. I let you in only because I think that I remember you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Dash responded sarcastically and rolled her eyes. She approached the door to the stair case and opened it. She got to the third floor without a problem. When she opened the door with a big ‘3’ emblazoning it, she got to a corridor, it’s floor the same red as in the reception.

There were a few doors on the corridor, but she remembered all too well where the door to Lightning’s office was. Not many ponies knew this but Dash and Lightning knew each other even before the two of them arrived to Ponyville. Bolt was Dash’s friend from her old flight school, not as close friend as Gilda was or any other Element bearer is now, but a friend nevertheless. Lightning Bolt was a snow white Pegasus with a light blue mane and sky eyes. While Dash dropped out from school, Bolt stayed in the class and graduated. They met, on accident, when Dash applied as a weather mare to the Department. It turned out that Bolt applied also, but instead from applying for the actual team like Dash did, she applied as one of the ponies that think of the weather. Both mares worked alongside for years, both reaching the top of the pyramid, Dash as the team’s captain and Lightning as the director.

Dash slowly opened the door, and saw a hoof-chair, facing the window, which was across from the door. The light from the window slightly silhouetted the chair, making it darker. The room was just how the rainbow mare has remembered it. The same red floor, a big desk in the middle and a hoof-chair behind it. One of the walls was completely covered with bookshelves containing countless binders of the Weather Archive. The other one had a potted fern in the corner and a simple painting of a beach hung on it. While Rainbow was taking in the sights the hoof-chair started to rotate slowly.

“Who the hay let you in you-” Lightning Bolt said, with the harshest voice she could muster. She always tried to be as much intimidating as she could, but everypony that knew her for longer than a day knew that she was soft. Not timid like Fluttershy, but soft. She couldn’t possibly hurt a fly. “Dash?!” She loudly said, standing up and placing her hooves on the desk, her face immediately brightening up.

“Yea! It’s me, in all my glory,” Dash responded with a laugh, she really was happy to see her old friend.

Bolt circled the desk and ran up to Dash for a hug. When they hugged the white mare asked, “What happened Dash? I didn’t see you for months!”

Rainbow’s face expression instantly fell. “Well, I got together with my close friend, Applejack. When I resigned from my job as a weather mare, it was because I moved to Sweet Apple Acres. She lives there, you know. You must have seen her.” She paused and sighed, “Well... now we kinda broke up with each other... so I decided to get my job back, I nearly ran out of bits...” She trailed off.

“Awww, I’m sad to hear that,” Bolt responded with a sincere pout. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by ‘kinda’?

“I don’t know!” Dash shouted and immediately regretted it. Bolt rapidly moved her head away, slightly startled. “Sorry, I’m sorry for that...” The colorful pony paused “We had a argument and she ran away with tears, a few days ago and I haven’t had the chance to talk to her since.” She lied. No matter how close friend Bolt was, she didn’t like other ponies poking their noses in other ponies’ relationships.

“Well, I think that you need to go and talk to her...” Lightning said, tilting her head to the side with a smile.

“Thanks, I’ll manage without your advice,” Rainbow responded louder and curter than intended, what startled the blue maned Pegasus yet again. “Sorry, I-I know what I am doing,” She added quieter this time. “I just want the job, that’s all.”

“Well OK then.” Bolt responded, making her way back behind her desk. “It won’t be easy but I will try to make you the captain of the team again. Cloudkicker took your former role and she is doing a good job so far.

After Lightning Bolt filled a few papers and Dash signed them, the application for the team’s captain was filled. Bolt put it in a envelope and put in on a small stack of envelopes that had to be sent to the Administration in Cloudsdale. Both mares hoped that Dash will be able to take her former role. When the application was completed Dash sat in front of the desk, across from Bolt, and they started talking. They reminisced on old times from the school, recalling various adventures they had in it, together or separate. The rainbow mare lost track of time, so when she felt that she sat there for long enough she decided to leave. She would come back here tomorrow anyway, to check if her application was accepted or denied.

When she was at the door she craned her neck to Lightning that was sitting behind her desk.

“I’m sorry. For earlier...”She said, regretting her previous outburst.

“It’s completely OK, I understand.” Bolt responded, reassuring her old friend.

“Thanks, see you tomorrow.” Rainbow responded and exited.

When she was exiting the building, she looked through the window of the reception room, to ensure that Applejack was no longer standing in front of the building. To Dash fortune, she already headed home. In fact it got significantly late. She spent more time conversing with her white friend than she thought. The sun was already setting behind the great mountains at the West.

Rainbow quickly made her way to her house. While flying she glanced towards the Sweet Apple Acres.

Maybe I really should go and talk to her... She thought with a sigh and shook her head in confusion.

When she finally made it to her house, she opened the door and headed straight to the bedroom. The day really exhausted her, to this point that the mare was slightly surprised. When she jumped to bed, she immediately fell asleep.

-«<♦>»-

Applejack was looking out of her window in her room. Seconds ago she spotted the familiar rainbow trail that her friend always was leaving when she flied. She observed as the tiny speck that was the love of her life headed towards her home. Applejack silently hoped that Dash suddenly would turn around and fly right through her room’s window, directly into her embrace. In her fantasy Rainbow Dash would say that she was very sorry and that she wanted them to be back together. They would kiss and fall asleep, tangled together, here on the farm in Applejack’s bed.

The farm pony sniffed, closed the window and walked away from it. She looked at her bed and imagined Rainbow laying on it, waiting for Applejack to join her. The farmer moved the quilt, laid on the bed, and closed her eyes. She let one last sigh and slowly fell asleep.

-«<♦>»-

A / N - Thanks for reading, don’t forget to rate and comment if you have any feedback. There was a longer break so you got a longer chapter as a reward for patience! ;D
Disclaimer - The ponies: Merry May, Lightning Bolt and Rude stallion (Comet tail) are not my OCs!

Chapter Nine

Winds of Change

Chapter Nine

The alarm clock placed on the cloud nightstand let out a loud sound, which pierced Rainbow Dash’s ears painfully. She bought a very loud alarm clock for purpose, it was always hard for her to wake up and she needed to resort to such drastic methods to even get out of bed. She quickly opened her eyes, sat up and localized the source of the annoying sound. Dash slammed her hoof on the top of the alarm clock, silencing it, and commented on the whole situation with “Stupid clock”.

She threw her cutie mark-embroidered quilt to the ground, then crawled to the edge of her bed and stood up on the floor. After her morning routine she decided to eat something. The pizza box in the living room turned out to be a decent source of food; there was still one pizza slice there, which was immediately devoured by Rainbow. It really didn’t cure her hunger, but she still didn’t have bits to afford something better to eat. She will have to beg Lightning Bolt to give her her pay for the month in advance.

When the pizza slice was eaten, Dash walked to the main door and sighed. The mare didn’t want to work, out of pure sloth, but she was in a dire need of bits. The door was opened by Dash, and she stepped outside. The morning air was slightly chilly; Dash wasn’t used to getting up in her cloud house on such an early hour, but she needed to turn up at the Weather Department soon.

She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but she just didn’t feel like flying. Normally she would spend every living second of her life on flying and performing stunts, but now she just didn’t want to. As if somepony just took her indomitable will to fly and shoved it away.

The cyan Pegasus opened her wings to their full span and slowly walked to the edge of the cloud. She looked down: the normally large houses seemed to be the size of little fillies’ toys, and whoever was on the street at this hour was as small as a grain of wheat.

Rainbow merely stepped over the edge of the cloud and let her form glide steadily to the ground. After the short journey she landed just outside the main square, where the Weather Department was. She looked back at her cloud home: it looked so small and fragile from down there.

The mare looked back down and began her gait towards the building of the Weather Department. She really hoped that the bosses over at Cloudsdale granted her the ability to join the Weather Squad as a leader instantly; she didn’t feel like climbing the position ladder all over again.

As she was approaching the main square, she heard a very faint, yet familiar voice resounding between the village buildings, but it was too vague to determine the owner. When she turned a corner she saw the owner of the voice. Her eyes widened when she comprehended who she was looking at. She immediately turned back and jumped behind the corner with a small yelp, her back pressed against the wall.

It’s Applejack! How am I going to enter the Weather Department if she is there?

Applejack was selling apples at her stand on the main square. She was positioned a good fifty meters to the side of the building, in a way that she had to turn her head quite considerably to see who is entering the building.

Hay, I can’t talk to her just yet! I’m not ready! - Dash looked around the corner to see her friend standing idly behind the counter, she seemed to be deep in thought. She just sold a apple to somepony, and didn’t have any customers at the moment. - There are a few ponies here and there, but certainly not as much as during the rush hours; Applejack would notice me if I would try to be sneaky. She needs a distraction.

Fortunately for herself, Dash spotted a light yellow stallion with a purple mane. walking just a few meters next to her. This was Dash’s chance, or such she thought.

“Hello Mister... err... hello.” Oh Celestia this is going to be hard. “Heh, do you, maybe, happen to want a delicious apple?”

“No thanks...” the stallion responded, eying the mare carefully. He cautiously started to walk away.

“No, wait, please I need your help!” she pleaded.

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. Now please let me get back to my urgent business.”

I’m making a fool of myself! “Please Mister.” She put her arm around the stallion's neck and moved over the corner and pointed at Applejack’s stand. “Just go there and buy an apple, and you won’t see me ever again in your life.”

The stallion sighed. “Never again?”

“Err, never.” This question slightly surprised Rainbow.

“OK, I’ll buy this stupid apple. I even don’t know why, but I’ll do it.” With this said, he freed himself from Dash’s hoof and slowly walked to the stand. He started talking to Applejack. Dash really hoped that he will not tell her who sent him for the apple. When Dash was sure that the farm pony is occupied, she quickly moved to the main door of the Department. She hurriedly opened the door, got inside and forcefully slammed the door shut. Next she proceeded to look through the window next to the door. She saw the stallion she was talking with, walking away, levitating a green apple at his side. It seemed that Applejack didn’t notice Dash at all; she looked as pensive as she looked before talking to the yellow stallion.

Dash turned around to see the receptionist, Merry May, looking at her quizzically over a newspaper. She pointed at the door leading to the staircase, sighed and said, “Lightning Bolt is already waiting for you.” That being said she went back to her lecture.

The rainbow Pegasus moved to the staircase, stole a last glimpse at Merry and climbed to the third floor. She really hoped that Bolt was able to pull the necessary strings to instantly position her as the team leader.

She opened the door with her friend’s name emblazoned on it and saw the familiar room. Lightning Bolt was sitting in her run-down hoof-chair. She was writing something on a piece of paper, an open binder lying nearby on the desk. Other than that, a framed photo and a desk lamp were placed on the desk. Upon hearing the sound of a opening door she raised her head to meet her visitor.

“Oh, hello Rainbow,” she said. “I have been expecting you; please, sit down,” Bolt said with a smile. She pointed the chair that was near the desk, across from the hoof-chair. When Dash seated herself, Bolt picked a piece of paper from the binder and looked at her friend with a sincere smile.

“Good news, Dash. Upon examining your application, the Administration in Cloudsdale granted you the position of the Leader of Ponyville's Weather Team. I had to call upon some old favors, but I managed it!”

“Ohh. Heh, thanks Bolt, eee... I really appreciate that,” Rainbow responded with a half-hearted smile.

“But what is it? Aren’t you happy? I thought that you wanted this position,” the white mare asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and smiled. “No, no, I’m happy. Thanks a lot, I really didn’t feel like starting all over again, as a team’s errand mare.” There was a feeling of anxiety lingering deep somewhere in the vast depths of Rainbow’s mind. She subconsciously felt that this decision wasn’t the right one, that things are going the way they shouldn’t. She tried her best to shake off this feeling.

The blue maned mare eyed Dash suspiciously. “OK, I’m glad to hear that...” Lightning wasn’t convinced that everything was alright with Dash and that she was happy to get her job back. “Did... did you go and talk to your marefriend Applejack?” Lightning knew that Dash didn’t like when questions like that were being asked, but she was concerned for her old friend; it was obvious to her that she was struggling internally.

Rainbow inhaled to say something, but after a pause no words came. She sighed instead, and looked down.

The white coated mare stood up and walked to the other side of the desk. “I’ll take that as a no. Look at me.” Lightning Bolt stepped around the desk, walked over to Dash, and placed her hoof under Dash’s chin, gently pushing her face up to meet hers.

“I might not be the best in... things like that, but I really think that you should go and talk to Applejack. You cannot just leave her hanging there; you need to talk to her.” She was close from concluding with ‘before it’s too late’, but decided that it wouldn’t help much.

“Yea, I know...” Dash responded with a pout, looking into Bolt’s sky blue eyes, “But I just can’t face her now, I wouldn’t know what to say... I hurt her and I know it, she probably hates me now.”

“The longer you leave her hanging, the more you are hurting her. I thi- know that she doesn’t hate you; this isn’t how things work. You should go see her.”

“OK, I will,” Dash sadly promised. “Just... not yet.”

She lowered Bolt’s hoof with her own, and stood up. Rainbow started walking towards the door to the corridor, when she remembered something.

She turned around and looked at Bolt, who was already seated behind her big desk. “So... my job starts tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right. Just come here tomorrow, 8 o’clock in the morning,” Lightning responded, without raising her head from the papers.

“Emm, I did kinda run low on bits recently and...” She trailed off sheepishly, Bolt raising her head. When the silence prolonged Dash continued. “Can you, maybe, pay me this month’s pay in advance?”

“Ehhhh...” Bolt responded, getting up from her hoof-chair. She walked to the bookcase filled to the brim with old thick binders. She took one of them out with considerable effort, sending thousands of dust particles flying into the air. She coughed and walked to the desk, placed the binder on it, opened it and started to look for something.

“I understand that you are in a hard situation now Dash. I will try my best, but you know that the final decision belongs to the Administration in Cloudsdale. Without their acceptance I cannot move a damn hoof here.” After a few seconds more of searching, she found what she was looking for. An piece of paper was unfastened from the binder. “It’s a special form I will have to send to Cloudsdale; I’ll spare you the details. If they agree, I’ll give you the money tomorrow.”

“I really appreciate that, thank you. See ya tomorrow then.” Dash smiled and then started to turn around.

“Wait,” Bolt said, opening one of the several drawers in the desk. She took a small pouch out of it with her mouth and walked towards Dash. She dropped it in front of her, the pouch making a metallic sound upon hitting the floor.

“Here you have around forty bits... It is not much, they pay us like hay these days, but it will help you survive if the Administration doesn’t agree to pay you in advance.”

A smile crept onto Dash's face. “Thanks Bolt, it really means a lot...” She moved in to embrace her friend. “Thanks again, I’ll give it back when I can.”

“Don’t worry. See you tomorrow,” Bolt said with a wink. The two then parted.

“See you,” Dash responded, then took the pouch in her mouth and walked out from the office, closing the door behind her. Instead of going down the staircase to exit the building the conventional way, she opened one of the windows on the third floor and flew out. If she didn’t want Applejack to see her, she needed to resort to such methods. She gently glided to the ground, sighed and looked around. The speedy Pegasus was on the other side of the building than Applejack. She opened her wings and started to fly, low and between the buildings. After a considerable distance, she turned and flew back to her house on a semi circle, effectively avoiding the main square.

When she arrived at her cloud home, she immediately went to her safe in her bedroom. She opened it and poured all of the bits from the pouch into the small chest. The chest was still relatively empty, but with well thought out saving, and without Rainbow being reckless, it would suffice until the end of the month.

-«<♦>»-

Applejack sniffed and parked the cart in the red barn, near the farmhouse. She quickly unfastened the harnesses of the apple cart and stand that she had on her back, and used her hoof to clear her face from a tear that managed to escape her eye. The farmer exited the barn, slamming the door behind her.

She hastily entered the farmhouse and sat at the kitchen table, all eyes turned to her. Big Mac was standing near the stove while Apple Bloom was sitting near the table, across from Applejack. She looked at Big Mac, Apple Bloom and then back at Mac.

“So where is she!?” She exclaimed at her brother, her voice cracking, “Hm? Ya said that Ah shouldn’t worry mahself, so Ah ask ya, where is she?”

“Apple Bloom, please go to yer room,” Big Mac said with a peremptory tone. Apple Bloom immediately complied.

With his younger sister out of the way, Big Mac sat down on a chair next to his older one. He embraced the now quietly sobbing Applejack. Her head was laying on the table, covered by her hooves. He lowered his head and whispered to her ear.

“Look, Ah said that she will come back because Ah believed so, and Ah still believe so. You and Rainbow Dash are very good friends; she wouldn’t just... forget about ya, leave ya, and go along with her life. I am sure that she will come back,” he said in a soothing voice, calming Applejack down a little.

“But last time ya said the exact same thing,” she said, while fiercely freeing from her brothers embrace. She succeeded, then said in an accusatory tone, “How can Ah know that it is true this time?”

“It always was true. Ah still think, and will always think that Rainbow Dash is not the type of pony to leave her friends after one argument. She needs time Applejack, and you cannot deprive her of the law to it.”

“But look how much time Ah have given her!” Applejack retorted, more tears escaping her eyes. “It's been over a week since our argument, and she didn’t show a sign of life since then!” She sobbed and used her hoof to clear any more tears that escaped. “And Ah’ve seen her flying around her cloud home and Ponyville so don’t tell me that she can’t come, because she can definitely come here any time she wants!” she loudly finished and looked at the table in front of her, her face locked in a grimace.

“Ah know that this is hard fer ya, but Rainbow Dash needs to come to terms with what she has done. I think that she is feeling guilty and is scared to face you now, but will do so in the upcoming days, Ah can assure ya.”

Applejack raised her head and opened her mouth to retort, but after a moment she closed it and looked back down. “*sigh* Ah know...” She paused, clearing her puffy eyes with the side of her hoof. “I know... sorry for taking it out on ya. Ah just didn’t know what happened with me...” She paused. “I think Ah’ll gonna go upstairs and sleep, it’s early but Ah’m exhausted. Tell Apple Bloom that Ah’m sorry.”

With that she got up and moved to the stairs leading to the upper floor. Before she climbed them, she said one last thing to the red stallion in the kitchen. “Ah really hope that you are not mistaken...” Applejack got up the stairs, and into her room. She drew the curtains, laid on her bed and covered herself tightly with the quilt.

She shifted in the bed for a long time, but couldn’t close her eyes. She replayed the red stallion’s words countless times in her head, as if this would make them absolutely true. She desperately clung to any faith in her friend that was left in her mind. She couldn’t accept the possibility that Rainbow Dash, her best friend, and marefriend, could leave her like that, without a word of explanation.

A / N - Please comment and rate, thank you!

Finale

Winds of Change

Finale

Rainbow Dash forcefully bucked an unwanted cloud, sending the water vapor in all directions. It shimmered in the midday sun for a moment, and then got carried away by the powerful wind, not a sign of it left. It was her first day in her work and she was flying over the Everfree Forest, collecting dark clouds suitable for merging into a larger raincloud. The Pegasi in the Department scheduled a storm for the night, and now it was up to the Weather Team to make it happen. She spotted a quite big dark cloud, flew behind it, and pushed it towards Ponyville, where the rest of her team was. The raincloud they were about to create would tightly cover the sky above the village for the whole night.

While pushing the cloud, she involuntarily looked at the Sweet Apple Acres. The wind swished between the thick branches of the countless apple trees, making them sway back and forth, leaves rustling. She pondered on what to say to her former lover when she finally encountered her. That she is sorry? That seemed way too simple and trivial for Rainbow Dash to say, it was obvious that she was sorry. That she hopes that she is not mad?

Of course she is mad! I-I just left her there, I didn’t go to her when I had the chance, and now she probably hates me. Rainbow Dash, above anything else, wanted to just forget about the weather and fly straight to the farmhouse, it still might be not too late for that, such Rainbow hoped. Dash would do that right then and there, if not for the fear that Applejack wouldn’t want to talk with her. She feared that the farm pony would just throw her out, and say that she doesn’t want to see her again. She once went through a friendship breakdown with Gilda, and she desperately didn’t want it to happen again.

When the cyan mare made it over Ponyville, she noticed that the wind there was stronger, and that the air had a certain chill to it. A thick layer of clouds hovered over the village, covering it like a shroud, with only a few holes here and there. She clogged one of the holes with the cloud she was pushing, and looked around. The Weather team was scattered all over the sky, performing various tasks given to them by Rainbow. Some of them were collecting clouds from the area that surrounded the village and passing them to ponies that were clogging them in the few holes that remained. When she looked at the sun she noticed with satisfaction that they are on time with the work.

She idly started flying in a random direction, overlooking the work done by her subordinates. After a few minutes, Cloudchaser approached Dash to report.

“Captain Rainbow Dash, I report that the whole of Ponyville is covered,” she announced with small salute.

Dash took a look around and saw for herself that the village was tightly covered, not a single hole visible. “Good,” Dash responded. She flew a couple of meters into the air and observed as all of the Weather Team was collecting before her, waiting to be dismissed.

“OK, you all did a wonderful job today, this cloud is really great,” she praised, quieter than usual. “I need a few ponies to commence the rain at sundown.” The rain wouldn’t start all by itself: it needed to be commenced by a small group of Pegasi. When a cloud was full with water only waiting to be released, a swift and skilled buck could release all of the liquid. The effect was wide ranged, and if done neatly, could trigger a chain reaction, leading to all of the clouds releasing their water. Only the most experienced Pegasi were able to do it decently.

“OK, I want Cloudkicker...” She pointed her hoof at her. ”Cloudchaser and... let’s say we will give Thunderlane a chance to prove himself.” Hearing this put a small blush and a smile to Cloudchaser’s face. “The rest of the group is dismissed for today,” she concluded, waving her hoof in the air.

All of the Pegasi saluted, some carelessly, while others with devotion. After that all of them one after another flew right through the cloud that they finished creating just moments ago, heading for their homes in Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash sighed and squinted one last time at the sun. After a moment of contemplation, she dove for the cloud cover below her, going through it without a problem. When she went through it got significantly colder and darker, little to no sun rays made it there, due to the clouds. Dash shivered slightly in the strong wind and hastily started the long descent towards Ponyville and her home. When she descended to an altitude from which the village could be clearly seen, she noticed that very little ponies were wandering the streets. If she spotted somepony, he was already running to his house, scared by the vision of being caught in the rain.

She absentmindedly flew through the air over ponyville, her thoughts once again drifting to the subject of her and her ex-marefriend.

Would Applejack even consider being with me again?

She was scared of the answer to this question, yet this was everything that occupied her mind right then. Her flight slowed down considerably, the Pegasus no longer paying attention to where she was going. She started descending and finally touched the ground. The cyan mare shook her head violently, in attempt to banish all of the nagging questions from her head.

This helped only partially. The thoughts and visions of her friendship shattered tended to constantly linger somewhere in her mind, despite the mare’s effort to eradicate them. The Pegasus looked around and found herself standing right on the beginning of the lone road leading to Sweet Apple Acres. The farmhouse lonely towered over the orchard in the distance, its sight surfacing even more doubt in the mare. She wasn’t so close to the farm since her terrible argument with Applejack, and it made her nervous.

No, it certainly isn’t a good time to go and see AJ, the rain is about to start and all... With that thought she turned around and took off into the air, but landed in the same spot a second later. Something caught her attention, something in the bush next to the road. She slowly approached something that looked like a piece of brown cloth sticking out from the bush. It looked strangely familiar to the Pegasus, she was almost attracted by it. When she approached, she took the material into her mouth to pull it out.

She recoiled slightly when she managed to pull the thing out. It was Applejack’s stetson, the one she always wore. Dash looked at the hat, now lying on the dirt in front of her. The sight of the hat made memories resurface, memories that Dash preferred to be buried in the vast bowels of her mind.

Suddenly, she was in a sunny field, kissing with Applejack again, the hot passion of love buzzing in her brain and coursing through her veins. When their lips parted, Rainbow gazed upon the most magnificent pair of eyes in Equestria, getting engulfed in the vast deep greens, as if nothing mattered to her anymore. She slowly moved in closer to Applejack’s ear, running her nuzzle through her fragrant mane, and whispering softly, “I love yo-

“Argghh!” Rainbow fiercely shook her head with a piercing shriek, stomping her hoof on the ground. She slowly opened her eyes and panted slightly, trying to regain composure. She removed her mane that stuck to her forehead from the sweat that had formed, despite the cold.

She looked at the hat again. There it was laying, like nothing happened. Rainbow was attracted to the hat by an unknown invisible force, way stronger than her will was. No matter how hard she tried to just fly away, she failed. She just stared at it for a while, knowing that she couldn’t leave it there. No matter how hard she wanted to, she just couldn’t.

The cyan mare quickly grabbed the stetson in her mouth and kicked up in the air. She headed to her cloudhome, as fast as her wings could carry her. Her heartbeat skyrocketed as adrenaline coursed through her veins, while her brain kept sending visions of her and Applejack expressing their love for each other. The hat in the Pegasus’ mouth only made them more vivid, the strong emotion in those visions nearly tangible.

The speedy pegasus slammed right through the door of her cloudhome, not bothering to open the door normally. She flashed through her living room and kitchen at a breakneck speed, and landed in her bedroom. She tossed the hat on the bed, and watched it carefully for a few moments. After that she slowly opened her safe in the wall and placed the hat there, slamming the small door behind it.

Only now the emotions controlling her not moments ago, started to subside, making place for rational thinking. She breathed heavily for a few seconds, taking her time to regain composure.

-«<♦>»- Several hours later -«<♦>»-

Applejack couldn’t sleep. She was laying motionless in her bed for what felt like a long time, minutes seemingly passing by like grains in a hourglass, blended and blurred into one, no longer recognizable as separate. Applejack couldn’t tell for how long exactly she was laying there, but it felt like an eternity to the mare. The rhythmic sound of the rain hitting the window, and the occasional bang of thunder, didn’t help.

All of the other family members were already sound asleep for hours, unaware of Applejack’s insomnia. Her thoughts were revolving around Rainbow Dash and her disappearance. She couldn’t believe that her friend could have possibly abandoned her like that. She tried to think about anything else, but her brain never let her, always reverting her thoughts back to her love.

There were too many pent up emotions in her mind. She needed to release them, for her own sake. The farmer then remembered that there was a place she in the forest that she used to go after her mother died, giving birth to Apple Bloom. She rarely talked about it to anypony. It was a cozy clearing, right near the valley that the mane six crossed when going to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, to defeat Nightmare Moon.

In the clearing there was a place under a tree, from which one could see the magnificent sight of the valley, and the river that raged in the very bottom, in all its glory.

Applejack couldn’t stand laying in her bed anymore, she was sick of it. She really wanted to go to her place, she needed it to soothe her mind, let her think coherently about the situation.

Applejack slowly got up from the bed, and to her hooves, throwing the quilt aside. She carefully stepped outside of her room and stopped to listen. The farmer easily heard the snoring of her family members, reassuring her that she was safe.

The orange mare descended the stairs, skipping the squeaking step and continued to the main door, through the kitchen. She carelessly opened the main door. The wind instantly rushed in with all its force, raining mayhem on the hall, and slightly surprising the mare. She slammed the door shut again, muffling the sound of the raging storm. She sighed, hoping that her family members were not awaken by the outburst.

She decided to try again. She really needed to go there, and was determined to do so. She wasn’t the one to back up easily. She opened the door, throwing the hall into the state of chaos yet again. The stubborn mare hastily made it outside and closed the door behind her.

The branches of apple trees swayed back and forth in the powerful wind blowing between their branches, their leaves rusting and falling off to their doom. Applejack’s coat was instantly soaked by the downpour, her mane drooping over her eyes, obscuring the view. When she swept it aside, she started running towards the entrance to the Everfree forest, her hooves sloshing in the mud.

She ran for a long time, the rhythmic sloshing of her hooves in mud hypnotizing her. She barely noticed that she made it to the forest entrance, near Fluttershy’s cottage.

The forest soughed menacingly, the trees towering over Applejack, overwhelming her. The farm pony gulped, but entered into the bowels of the dangerous forest. The sound of the storm was partly replaced by the swoosh of the wind between the old and gnarled branches of the Everfree forest.

The mare quickly broke into a run, wanting to get to her place as fast as she could. After a moment she noticed that the storm was significantly worse in there. The downpour was bigger than on the farm, despite the trees shielding the ground. The sound of rain was occasionally accompanied by a sonorous thunder, lightening the otherwise dark forest for a split second.

The constant lightnings made the mare run faster. She hardly saw where she was going from the rain pouring oh her mane and eyes. She was scared, but she pressed on. Soon she was panting from the exertion, her legs begging for a break. Despite the hot pain the mare felt, she continued, somehow knowing that she was close to her goal.

Applejack heard the distant sound of flowing water, a sign that she was close. She jumped on a small path between the trees, turned right, and saw her goal on the end of it. The lone tree on the edge of the cliff, no further than two hundred meters before her. She ran even faster, the clatter of her hooves in mud accompanied by the roaring thunder.

When she was no closer than meters from the tree, she noticed that there was a muddy patch that stretched from the edge of the cliff to the tree and forth. Applejack screamed and started to skid to a stop, digging her hooves deep in the mud. Despite her effort, the tree and the edge of the cliff were approaching dangerously. When she was passing the tree, she grabbed one low branch in her hooves, gritting her teeth from the strain.

While grabbing the branch with her fore hooves, her back hooves stumbled over a root that was sticking out from the mud. The branch snapped with a crack, sending Applejack tumbling towards the edge. She slid on her stomach, desperately trying to grab something with her hooves, but the only thing that she managed to grab was more mud.

Her chest slowly slid over the edge, her hooves fiercely trying to reach something. Applejack shrieked as she slipped over the edge, the water menacingly roaring beneath her. She was falling down, vehemently waving her hooves in search of something to support her.

The farm pony groaned from the strain when she managed to get hold of a root that was sticking from the wall of the cliff. She grabbed the root with both her hooves, the root creaking ominously. She looked down in time to see the branch she held previously getting blown into splinters when hitting the cliff wall, and landing in the water, good hundred meters below her.

She hung there for a few seconds, collecting strength. After a moment she desperately tried to pull up on the root, but it was creaking loudly, so she stopped. She tried again but the root was creaking with her every move, so she was forced to stay still. She started panting from the exertion, her hooves barely managing to hold the wet, slippery root.

“HEEEELP” Applejack yelled, using all of the energy that was left in her, “HELP ME!” she shouted again, but the sound of rain and thunder muffled her screams.

-«<♦>»-

Rainbow Dash awoke with a deep inhale, sitting up on her cloud bed. She was panting heavily and was covered in sweat, her mane stuck to her forehead. When she looked down she noticed that she was holding the slightly damp Applejack’s hat in both her front hooves. She held it close to her face, the mild fragrance of apples immediately hitting her. She slowly closed her eyes and pressed the hat closer to her chest, instantly thinking about being with Applejack on a sunny field, kissing.

After a moment she opened her eyes again and released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She looked at the hat again and run her hoof on the rough material. After that, she set the hat on the bed and averted her gaze to the window. The storm was raging with all its force outside, sending a cold chill into the Pegasus’ house.

She gritted her teeth in determination and stood on all fours. No more hesitation. The Pegasus kicked into the air and through the window. She was immediately thrown off by the strong wind, and her mane and coat soaked by the water. She shivered from the cold, but managed to level her flight. The mare looked around, localized Sweet Apple Acres after a second and headed there with a breakneck speed, sending droplets of water in every direction.

The rain was hitting her face, but she didn’t care. The farmhouse grew closer and closer. There was something menacing in the way; the apple trees were swaying in the wind, their leaves rustling loudly. She landed near the house and skidded to a stop before the porch, kicking water and mud into the air. She noticed that all of the lights were off. Everypony was probably asleep.

The mare ran up to the main door, carrying water and mud on the porch. She slammed her hooves on the rough surface of the wood several times and pushed the door handle. The Pegasus stumbled into the house and yelled the name of her love with all of her might, her voice attended by thunder.

She ran up the stairs leading to the roms of the residents, her hooves clopping loudly on the wood. One of the doors on the corridor quickly opened, revealing the red face of Big Macintosh. He hollered “What the hay is goin’ on?!” before noticing Rainbow Dash, who barely paid any attention to the red stallion. She ran up to the door to Applejack’s room, opened it and ran inside, Big Mac following right behind her.

They both stopped in their tracks when they noticed the bed. It was empty, the quilt partly on the floor, it looked like somepony left in haste.

Rainbow’s eyes widened when she saw what was going on. “Where is she?!” she yelled, at first into space before her, then at Big Mac, looking right at him.

“Ah don’t know, she was here when we went to sleep...” Big Mac replied, genuinely flabbergasted. Hoof steps could be heard from the corridor and soon Apple Bloom joined the two ponies in the room. She looked at the empty bed and then at the ponies present. “Where’s AJ?” she asked, concerned. When no response came, she asked again, louder.

“I don’t know!” Dash responded, looking at Applejack’s siblings. “We need to find her. I need to talk to her, now.”

Big Mac held his hoof to his temple, thinking. “Let’s go downstairs and look for her, it’s dangerous outside and she is probably one out.” With that he headed out of the room and down stairs. Rainbow followed, but was stopped by Apple Bloom.

“Did you come back to say sorry to mah sis?” she asked, with a gentle voice.

Dash didn’t respond right away, but when she did, the response was “Yes.” She left the room, heading to the kitchen.

They all sat at the kitchen table, all deep in thought. All except Dash, she couldn’t concentrate on anything, she longed to confront Applejack already, the passion she felt minutes ago still pulsing in her brain.

“C’mon! Let’s go out and search for her instead of sitting here and doing nothing! She probably just went to Ponyville for something or... something like that!” After that no response came, her words still echoing in her skull.

“There is a place...” Big Mac said after a moment, and exhaled. “There is a place in the woods that Applejack went to when our mother died, when she gave birth to Apple Bloom.” He said that, looking down with love on his sister that was sitting next to him. “She went there every day, for nearly two weeks. I still remember where that place is, I was there with her. It is a place under a tree, somewhere near to the edge of the cliff in the Everfree Forest. Under normal circumstances there would be no danger. AJ is a responsible pony and she knows when to stop. But now, given the storm, Ah’m concerned for her...” He let the sentence hang in the air for a while, its meaning slowly sinking into Dash’s mind.

“What?!” she exclaimed in response, flying up into the air, her chair stumbling back behind her. ”We need to go and find her NOW! Show the way!”

“Dash, come down. It will be faster if Ah tell you where it is, you can fly there.”

“OK, but hurry up!” she responded, anxiety and concern audible in her voice.

“You just need to find the valley in the Everfree and fly alongside it. You should notice a small clearing and a lone tree in the center, right beside the edge of the cliff,” he explained in his ever calm voice.

When she heard that, she flashed through the kitchen and flew out of the house, nearly blowing the main door off its hinges, leaving two concerned ponies in her wake.

When she was gone Apple Bloom looked at her brother with a pout, threatening to tear up. “Will Applejack be okay?” she asked in a quiet voice. Big Mac looked down at her and embraced her.

“I’m sure she will be alright, she isn’t reckless, or anythin’...” he responded, trying to reassure his young sister. “I will go to Ponyville and ask her friends, maybe she stopped somewhere there.”

-«<♦>»-

Rainbow Dash ascended over the farm house and located the Everfree forest. In this weather, it was a enormous sea of darkness, shifting as the trees swayed in the wind. The mare shuddered, and headed towards the black mass at top speed. After a few seconds of flight, she made it over the forest. She started scanning it, in search of the valley. She skimmed over the forest, straining her sight, searching for the lone tree.

After a minute she spotted a pitch black gash on the face of the forest, bleeding darkness. She descended and flew over it, looking for the clearing, the water furiously raging beneath her. The mare scanned the rims of the cliff, on both sides, but found nothing after flying under a bridge and reaching the far end.

Flying from one end to the other was a considerable feat to perform, even for somepony as athletic as Dash. Soon she was panting from the exertion, her wings aching. She gritted her teeth in frustration, but she wouldn’t give up so easily. The Pegasus ignored her pains, swooped to a u-turn, and started flying over the cliff again. This time she paid closer attention to the edges, flying slower alongside them.

-«<♦>»-

The root Applejack was hanging on started to creak ominously, threatening to snap any second. Her forehooves were shaking uncontrollably from the strain, the mare gritting her teeth in pain. She gave up on shouting after a few minutes of hanging. She understood that nopony was here to help her in night time. Her only hope was her family members noticing her disappearance.

She adjusted her position, trying to make it more comfortable. When she shifted the branch let out a very long creak, making Applejack freeze. The sound didn’t stop, despite Applejack not moving an inch. Soon it transformed into a barely audible snapping noise, smaller fibres in the root breaking.

“HEEEELP!” Applejack screamed, absolutely terrified. She looked down, desperately looking for something else to support her, but everything she saw was the rocky wall of the cliff, leading straight into the oblivion of the river below her. The snapping noise got louder and the root started to bend, making it harder for Applejack to hold on.

She groaned from the effort, as she tried to pull up on the root. She wanted to stand on it and jump to the edge of the cliff. But as she pulled up to level her face with the root, it let out its last creak and snapped loudly. Applejack shrieked, pure terror in her eyes as she felt gravity working its ways on her.

-«<♦>»-

Shriek. Dash heard a piercing bloodcurdling shriek, and her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the owner. She didn’t take another second to think as she sped towards the source of the sound, whipping her wings like never before in her life. She descended and saw a form of a pony falling down into the monstrous river below, hooves thrashing around in vain effort to grab something.

Rainbow Dash flashed towards the falling pony and tried to grab her. She clasped the mare in her midsection, yelling from the strain. Hot pain coursed through her wings as they protested against the additional load. Applejack grasped the cyan mare with both her hooves, petrified.

Dash’s wings were flapping ferociously, each flap taking its terrible toll on the Pegasus. She started panting heavily, her grip loosening. Applejack started to slip out of her grasp, threatening to fall down. She acted on impulse, nearly no thought behind her action. Her embrace on the cyan Pegasus tightened as she pulled her face to Dash’s, looking her in the eyes. She saw pure terror there, fear of losing somepony important. Fear of losing Applejack.

She closed her eyes and leaned closer to the cyan mare. Applejack parted her lips and connected them with Dash’s. Her eyes widened at the sudden sensation, but soon she calmed down, the long lost feeling of love once again overtaking her body and mind.

When their lips parted, the pain in Dash’s wings was gone. The kiss gave the mare new strength and the will to fight. She started flapping her wings with new resolve, dedicating all of the energy she had left to this one and only task. Dash yelled, as the unbelievable strain took its toll.

The fall of the two mares started to slow, due to Dash’s effort. Soon they started ascending, no closer than twenty meters to the deadly river. With every flap of the Pegasus’ wings they were getting closer to safety of the cliff edge. They reached the root that Applejack was grabbing for her life not minutes ago and passed it. Dash used any remaining energy to dash over the edge of the cliff, dropping Applejack on safe land near it, and falling to the ground a few meters further.

Applejack’s heart was beating furiously, as she scrambled to get up in panic, all covered in mud. She ran up to Dash. The cyan mare was laying in the mud, rain rinsing her still body.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled right at the Pegasus’ ear, but no response came. The farm pony observed that her chest was moving up and down, yet very faintly. She leaned and nuzzled at Dash’s snout and face, trying to wake her up, but to no avail. Tears started streaming down her face as she set her front hooves on the mare’s shoulders and started jerking them gently, in further attempt at waking Dash up.

“Dash?” Applejack managed to sob out as she dug her head under the Pegasus’ body. She rolled Dash on her own back and turned to face the dark forest. She could barely stand, her forehooves still strained from earlier, screaming with pain from the additional load.

The orange mare gritted her teeth in determination and slowly entered the forest. She was flooded by a cascade of animal sounds, coming from between the trees surrounding her. She heard rustling somewhere near, so she picked up the pace. She felt Rainbow Dash bouncing on her back to the rhythm of her run, still in a coma.

The earth pony pumped every last bit of strength and resilience she had left in to her legs, when she saw light faintly shimmering between the trees, on the far horizon.

-«<♦>»-

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes, and groaned at the pain she felt in her wings. She looked around to discover that she was laying in a hospital bed, covered with a quilt up to her chest, the steady beeping of the heart monitor resounding in the small room. Dim light shone through one small window, covered with a translucent roller-blind, rain pattering on the glass. A small cord ran from her extended foreleg up to an IV standing next to the bed.

She shifted on the rough sheet, adjusting to a more comfortable position. She looked to the window. She could discern the water droplets hitting the glass and sliding down, on the other side. After a moment of staring at the window, she could see the first rays of dawn shining through the roller-blind, tinging the whole room in a soft pink.

She shifted to lay on her other side, and a genuine smile crept on her face. She was looking at the most magnificent pair of green orbs she ever saw, looking back at her. The whole of Applejack’s face was tinged slight pink from the first rays of sunlight, her muzzle forming a wonderful smile, her mane falling in cascades of gold.

A lone tear of happiness escaped her eye as she ran up to the Pegasus and embraced her in a tight hug. They both looked in each other's eyes and leaned closer. As their lips connected, Rainbow Dash once again got lost in the passion of love she longed for so much, her embrace on Applejack strengthening, blood boiling. She ran her hoof through her fragrant mane and coat, her pulse skyrocketing.

When their lips parted, they once again looked in each other's watery eyes, getting lost in the vibrant colors.

“I love you,” Dash managed, through sobs of happiness.

“Ah love you too, darlin’,” Applejack responded and dove in for another kiss.

Epilogue

Winds of Change

Epilogue

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztttttttttttt

An orange hoof landed on the top of an old analog alarm clock with a barely audible click, stopping the annoying buzz. Applejack let out a long yawn and opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed, particles of dust dancing around her, illuminated by the first rays of sunlight that shone through the small slit in the window drapes. The orange mare looked to her right. She could make out a silhouette of a certain blue Pegasus lying beside her, quietly snoring. Applejack briefly considered waking her marefriend up and decided against it. She knew that the Pegasus enjoyed sleeping longer than the Apple family is used to.

Applejack slowly got up from the bed, careful not to wake the cyan mare up. She reached to the nightstand for her stetson, but was met with empty space. She didn’t let this get to her. The mare slowly started walking to the door leading to the corridor, careful not to step on squeaky panels. Years of the same morning routine taught her where those were. She opened the door with a creak, stepped outside, and closed it behind her with a quiet click. The farm pony was just in time to see her big brother exit his room with a yawn.

Applejack always wondered how he managed to look so fresh each morning: his mane was always straight and seemingly combed, his body clean and ready for work immediately after waking up.

“Howdy there Mac,” Applejack whispered to her brother and reached with her hoof to her hat, but touched thin air. She put her hoof down with a flat look on her face.

“Howdy there, sis’,” Big Macintosh whispered back, and headed for the kitchen right away. When he was passing Applejack, she stopped him with a hoof, with an embarrassed smile on her face.

“Wait a sec, Mac. Ah know that today it’s yer turn to make us some plum breakfast, but Ah would like to do that today. Ah have sumthin’ special planned, ya know, for her,” Applejack whispered, pointing at her bedroom door with a hoof.

A small knowing smile crept onto Mac’s face, “OK then,” He responded and chuckled at her sister’s antics.

Applejack smiled and quickly headed to the stairs leading down to the kitchen. She stopped at the stairs, turned her head around and said, “Oh, Ah forgot to tell ya, that means that yer the one to wake up Apple Bloom. Ah’m mighty sorry ‘bout that.” And hastily headed towards the kitchen.

“Hm?” Big Mac responded, half surprised by her sister. “This mare’s impossible,” he concluded playfully, and headed quietly to the door to Apple Bloom’s room. One couldn’t tell it from his features, but Mac was very relieved and genuinely happy to see his sister back to her normal joyous self, full of life and energy. He was seriously concerned for her while Dash was absent on the farm.

Applejack looked at all of the countless cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, pondering on what to do. She told her brother that she had something planned, but now that she thought of it, it was more of an outline of an actual plan. She wanted to somehow kill that routine that infected and nearly demolished her relationship with Rainbow Dash.

With the mentioned Pegasus sleeping soundly upstairs, Applejack estimated that she had roughly an hour to create something spectacular. She knew that Dash really disliked the meals the Apple family were preparing and consuming throughout their entire relationship, so Applejack had to prepare something else to please the mare of her dreams.

‘What does Dash love to eat? Hmm...?’Applejack pondered for a while, smiling suddenly when realization hit her. ‘Pizza! That mare sure does love her pizza!’

“Ah’m a genius!” Applejack praised out loud, keen to start making some delicious pizza. She vaguely remembered how to make pizza, from back when Granny Smith taught her. She started pondering on what ingredients she would need.

‘Hmm... yeast. Ah think Ah’ll need that.’She opened a cupboard that presumably contained yeast, only to discover a sight that both scared and surprised her. What she faced was a cupboard filled to the very brim with apples, threatening to topple over any second. The apples formed a wall, their only support - the cupboard door - removed just seconds ago.

‘Apple Bloom!’ Applejack screamed in her mind. ‘Ah told that filly to segregate the apples and to put them in the right cupboards, but that filly got it all wrong!’ She ranted inwardly, angry about her sister’s, quite usual, behavior.

The farm pony forcefully dug her hooves into the wall of apples that threatened to pour out, even without her hooves being stuck into it. She shrieked as a cupboard worth of apples poured over the edge and went crashing to the ground. Applejack was completely buried under apples as they fell onto and over her in a loud cascade, like a waterfall. The remaining apples rolled all over the kitchen floor, littering every inch of it.

The farm pony’s head emerged from the top of the heap of apples that now resided in the middle of the kitchen. She had her teeth gritted in anger, as well as a heavy scowl on her face.

‘Ah’m goin’ ta go hard on that filly when Ah lay mah hooves on her!’The mare thought, trying to get out of the heap of apples. Despite herself, she was surprised how her sister managed to pack so many apples in such a confined space like the small cupboard. The little filly never ceased to amaze, and mostly anger, Applejack.

When she made it out, she looked back at the cupboard, now having no more than three apples inside. She grabbed the bag of yeast she wanted to have in the first place, set it on the counter and looked around the kitchen. Every nook and cranny of the kitchen was littered with apples of various sizes and colors. Applejack looked at the clock that hung above the door, to observe that she already wasted around ten minutes of her precious time, bathing in apples.

She turned the water tap on, and filled a big cup with water. Then she proceeded to pour a bit of the yeast into the water for it to dissolve. After that she slowly opened another cupboard to fetch some flour and spice, half expecting it to be filled with apples. To her fortune, or misfortune, Apple Bloom packed the rest of the apples somewhere else.

’Guess Ah’m in for more surprises then’ Applejack sighed and took the ingredients.

She mixed the flour and various spices together in a mixing bowl, careful not to make any more mess than she already had. After a while she noted that the yeast dissolved, so she headed to the fridge to get some olive oil. She was surprised how well she remembered the recipe for pizza, since she didn’t even recall when she actually made it last time.

When she opened the fridge she noticed a large quantity of apples stacked into nice heaps here and there. There weren’t as much as in the cupboard, but still a lot. Applejack’s only reaction was a scowl, but it soon changed into a small snicker; her anger had almost subsided. Although she didn’t approve of her actions, she perfectly understood her younger sister, for she herself was once a small filly, after all.

She quickly grabbed the oil and headed to the dissolved yeast. She measured out one tablespoon of the olive oil with surprising precision, and poured the oil spoon into the yeast.

She set the tablespoon aside, just as she heard a faint sound coming from upstairs. The mare gasped, scared that Rainbow Dash was coming down early, and ruin the surprise. She frantically looked around the littered room, but it was already too late. The farm mare gulped as she saw the door knob twisting, and the door opening with a creak.

“Howdy there sis’!” a young and happy voice resounded in the kitchen, making Applejack let out a long and relieved sigh. She swiped beads of sweat that formed on her forehead with a hoof and looked at her little visitor, panting slightly.

“Hello there Apple Bloom!” She greeted her small sister, but immediately remembered something. She looked as Apple Bloom stopped in her tracks as she saw in what state the kitchen was. Her joyous smile slowly faded away, being replaced with a sheepish one. The young mare looked around and up to her big sister, gulping.

“Hehehe...” She gently kicked one apple lying near her hooves, sending rolling across the kitchen, “At least Ah got the work... done...?” She ended with an embarrassed smile, slightly lowering her head.

“Look missy, if only Ah would have the time, Ah would teach you a lil’ lesson, but now Ah hafta make something, so go play or sumthin’,” Applejack responded, immediately forgetting her smaller sister and resuming with her work.

As soon as Apple Bloom heard what Applejack said to her, her smile returned, doubled. “What are you doing sis’?” she asked, completely ignoring the first part of the sentence, curious of her sisters doings. She walked up to the counter Applejack was working on and peeked over to see what was on it. She curiously extended her hoof to prod the mug with the yeast in it, nearly making it topple over.

“What is this?” She asked with a innocent voice, looking quizzically at her big sister.

“Look Apple Bloom, Ah know that yer meanin’ no harm, but Ah’m kinda in a hurry here. Can you please go outside?” Applejack asked, looking at her sister with a kind expression. She really didn’t want the whole thing to prolong; she knew that she was very short on time.

Apple Bloom immediately saddened, her ears falling. She mumbled a silent “OK” and dragged herself out of the kitchen, sniffing, and kicking one of the apples on her way.

Applejack smiled, perfectly seeing through her little display. She knew that it took much more to make Apple Bloom this sad. But for now, she needed to focus on the task at hoof. She once again gazed at the clock, and cringed at what she saw. She already wasted half an hour, and only managed to do as much as nothing.

She quickly ran up to the yeast and poured it to the flour, accidentally spilling some on the counter and floor. She paid no attention to that, hurrying too much. She forcefully opened a drawer and retrieved a tablespoon with her mouth, closing the drawer with a thump. She gave the whole thing a quick stir, making the dough harden and become more solid. After that she threw the spoon into the sink, making bits of dough fly all over the kitchen, one landing on Applejack’s face.

She opened yet another cupboard and got a bag of flour and a rolling pin. She poured the flour carelessly onto the working surface of the kitchen, tinting her hoof white, some of it making its way onto the floor. She distributed the flour equally, and threw the bag back to the cupboard, hoping that it didn’t break. The blonde pony took the dough and threw it right in the center of the flour on the counter.

Moving the now empty bowl aside, she dug her hooves into the dough, fiercely mixing it while gritting her teeth from the exertion. After a while, she took the rolling pin and flattered the dough in a few swift and forceful moves. It was anything but round.

She took a pizza stone, which was just a ordinary piece of round stone, and placed the flattened dough on top. She ran up to the fridge, opened it, and rummaged through it while sweat drops dripped down her forehead. She found the tomato sauce, took it in her mouth, and went back to the counter, kicking the door close with a hind leg.

Applejack set the tomato sauce next to the pizza and took the spoon back from the sink with a sigh. She used it to pour the sauce onto the pizza, taking a peek at the clock from time to time. When the sauce was on, she took the stone and nearly threw it into the oven, that was, thank Celestia, open.

She closed the door, and immediately opened it again. While letting out a deep groan, she took two jars with cut mozzarella cheese and cut paprika out of a cupboard. The farm pony emptied both of them onto the pizza and placed it again into the oven. She dexterously set the time and temperature on the dials, and shut the door close.

Applejack let out a long and relieved sigh, leaned on her back on the door of the oven and soon slid to the floor, panting. She looked at the clock and smiled. She had still around ten minutes before Rainbow presumably wakes up. When Applejack looked around the kitchen, her smile fell.

It looked like a battlefield. The floor was carpeted with apples - it was hard not to step on one. The walls near the sink, including the window, were covered in dough, sticking to it like glue. Most of the cupboard and drawers were opened, the table and floor stained with flour. Applejack collected a bit of dough from her cheek, looked at it flatly, and threw it to the sink.

A curt ‘ding!’ meant the end of her short break. She got up and opened the oven door, to reveal as steaming hot pizza. The cheese was nicely brownish and bubbled slightly, still hot. The paprika was coated perfectly, and the dough baked neatly, forming a crisp crust.

She put on a hoof-glove and took the pizza out. She set it on the dining table and went back to the kitchen to fetch four plates and only three sets of cutlery - she knew how Dash was. When she set everything on the table, she took a step back to admire her hard work. Everything looked how it should, perfectly. Applejack allowed herself a smile.

“Mmmm, what’s that smell?” a dreamy voice said, somewhere from around the door.

“Aaaah!” Applejack shrieked in response, grimacing slightly. Soon she was knocked aside by a streak of rainbow, which only added to her bewilderment. While she recovered on the floor, a loud “Ohhhhh!” could be heard, which ended with a high pitched squeal.

Applejack was quickly picked up from the floor. Her face was held tight between the hooves of Rainbow Dash herself. Her eyes were large as saucers, her face a grin that threatened to rip her face in two.

“You did... that?!” She asked, still holding Applejack between her hooves.

“Y... Yes,” Applejack responded, still a little shaken from what she just experienced.

“Oh thanks, thanks, thanks, thank you, I love you!” Dash blurted out, and bombarded Applejack with fast kisses on her face, and a longer one on her lips. Before Applejack registered what transpired, they parted. Dash looked at Applejack with a serene smile. “Thank you,” Rainbow once more said and moved away to sit on her place.

She closed her eyes and smelled the pizza with a long inhale, closing her eyes while doing so. When she reopened her eyes, she looked around and said, “So... What are we waiting for?” Dash took a slice of pizza and placed it on her plate, already looking forward to the meal. “Let’s eat up!”

“OK, just wait a sec sugarcube, Ah need ta call the others,” Applejack responded, and went halfway up the stairs. When she got there, she yelled to Mac And Apple Bloom to come down for breakfast.

“Haha, Applejack, Ah didn’t take you for-” Big Mac started when entering the dining room, but never finished due to a speeding Apple Bloom. She flashed right by him and right onto her seat near the table, again, nearly making the whole thing topple over.

“Ohhhh, so this is what ya were doin’ when ya made this enormous mess in the kitchen!” Apple Bloom said, nearly drooling only from looking at the pizza. Mac raised his eyebrows and looked at his big sister, who only smiled in slight embarrassment.

“Ah never ate somethin’ like that for breakfast!” Apple Bloom confessed, and immediately snached the biggest slice there was.

She packed it in her mouth whole, and swallowed with just a few chews. Dash soon noticed that if she won't start eating soon, there will be nothing left for her. She took her slice and admired it. She could recognize a home made pizza when she saw it. Not wanting to wait any longer she took a bite off her slice. Saying it was delicious was a understatement; the dough was perfectly baked, forming a brittle crust that crumbled perfectly in mouth. The paprika-cheese taste combo was truly genius. Dash tilted her head backwards on her chair, her mind concentrating solely on the scrumptious pizza.

After the pizza was devoured, mainly by Dash and Apple Bloom, the table and the whole kitchen were cleaned, which was a considerable effort. After the work was done, Applejack and Dash allowed themselves a moment of break. They both laid on the couch in the living room, enjoying a moment of rest. Rainbow set the side of her head on Applejack’s chest, listening to her calm heartbeat with her eyes closed, while Applejack gently stroked her multi-colored mane with a hoof.

“You remember...” Dash broke the silence. “You remember when I got super excited when I saw that you made pizza for breakfast?” She asked, shifting her head to look at Applejack.

“Yes Ah do, ya were happy as a little filly,” Applejack responded, the recent memory putting a smile to her face.

“I wasn’t so happy because of the pizza itself...” Rainbow slowly confessed, looking Applejack in the eyes. “Rather, I was happy because of the fact that you did it for me, that you wanted to make something special for me,” She concluded, her embrace on her marefrend strengthening. She looked away in slight embarrassment.

Applejack moved Rainbow up, so their faces met. “Ah did that, because Ah love ya. And Ah want ya to be happy.” She gave the simple explanation.

“Thanks. I love you too.” She moved up and the lovers shared a long kiss. When it ended, Rainbow remembered something. “Wait a second here, I think I have a present you’ll be happy about for you.” She said with a mischievous smirk. She got up and flew out of the room before Applejack could protest. She ran up to the window in time to see Rainbow heading for her cloud home, leaving a magnificent rainbow trail in her wake.

The mare circled a few clouds on her way up to her house. She swiftly landed on her porch and entered, disappearing in the house for a few moments. The farm mare was even more astonished when she saw Rainbow flying out of her house, holding something brown in her front hooves. Applejack couldn't recognize what it was from the distance though.

She moved away from the window and quickly headed to the main door, opening it for the colorful Pegasus. She observed her as the rainbow-maned mare made her touchdown.

“Close your eyes!” Rainbow playfully commanded, before Applejack could get a good look at what Dash brought with her. She snickered, but complied. She felt something rough and slightly cold being settled on her head. It felt strangely familiar to the earth pony.

She happily gasped as realization hit her. She opened her eyes and reached to her head and took the thing off. Her beloved, favorite stetson was what she was holding. She threw it atop her head with a laugh: it was as comfortable as she remembered.

Applejack looked at Dash’s smiling face and crossed the distance between them in a fraction of a second. Rainbow found herself in a embrace capable of crushing ribs.

“Thank you darlin’!” The farmer thanked, still crushing the Pegasus.

“I’m happy ’n all too, but... I would also like to breathe,” Rainbow grunted out.

“Oh sorry, heh,” Applejack apologized, releasing Dash from her iron hug. “Ah’m all grateful sugarcube, but where did ya find it?”

“However unlikely this might seem, I found it lying right near the path leading to the farmhouse,” Rainbow explained, smiling. “I hope that you like it.”

“Of course Ah like it, Ah missed it real hard,” Applejack responded, tipping her recovered hat. She looked at the sun, and whistled. “It’s pretty late. Better get ta work.”

Dash immediately saddened when she heard that. She looked down and dug a hoof in the ground.

Seeing this, Applejack once again examined the skies. “Hmm, It looks like there are a few clouds here and there, don’t ya hafta to clear them?” Applejack asked, winking at the Pegasus.

Rainbow only sent a surprised look to the earth pony as a reply.

“Ya no longer hafta work on the farm, bucking trees. Now Ah know that ya really hated it, so ya will do it no more. We can handle the trees mighty good ourselves,” Applejack stated, sending a sincere smile to the Pegasus, who repaid with the same. The cyan mare moved closer to Applejack, and embraced her.

“Thank you Applejack, it means the world for me,” Dash thanked, digging her face into Applejack’s golden hair. “I really love you... and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for being such a fool. For not seeing what you were doing for me. I was taking, but was too selfish to give,” she said, digging stronger. “And I hope that you can forgive me.” She concluded, nearly whispering.

Applejack moved so they were looking each other in the eyes. “Dash... Ah forgave you long ago, when Ah was danglin’ from that root, and Ah saw ya flyin’ fast towards me. You grabbed me, and the moment I saw the fear in yer eyes, Ah knew that you really love me.” The farm pony sniffed, a lone tear running from her eye, leaving a speck on the dirt road.

“Thank you Applejack. I was such a fool, thank you.” Dash responded, a tear of her own escaping her eye, and rolling down her cheek.

They slowly moved closer together, both closing their eyes. It was just like the first time. Their tongues danced around one another, the nearly extinguished flame of love raging like never before.

The End

-«<♦>»-

Post story notes: Big thanks to both of my marvelous pre-readers, and of course to you, the reader that managed to make it through this fanfiction. Thanks again, and see you soon, and don't forget to rate and comment!

News - EDIT

Since all of the people commenting on the finale complained that the story wasn't 'wrapped up', I decided to write a epilogue, bringing closure to the whole story. I changed the status of the story from 'complete' back to 'incomplete', along with deleting the 'The End' at the end of the finale. The epilogue should be published soon, sometime next week or maybe later, depends on my school. Hear ya! Please comment what you think about it. EDIT - for anyone that still cares - School gone hard on me in recent days, and the worst is still to come, so I don't know when the Epilogue might be completed. Hopefully soon. Thanks!