Orange and Blue, I Do (Book 3)

Chapters

Prologue
Following A Train of Thought
A Room With A View
It Only Rains On Mondays
Support Your Local Librarian
Tempest Takes A Job
Stormy Weather
It's Twilight Time
Wild Horses
The Rays of the Summer Sun Do Sparkle
Love's Flower Don't Bloom For Jus' Anypony
Author's Note

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Have you ever found yourself wondering about how you reached this point in your life? Where things turned for the better? For the worse? You know what I mean, the kind of thoughts and feelings you have whenever the quiet has become too much, or when too much won't fade away into obscurity and leave your mind alone to rest.

It was something of which she was familiar. Ever popular, but always alone; bright and compassionate, but aloof and contemplative in the midst of other ponies' company. There were always fair weather friends even though those were rather undesirable, and that while a fair-weather friend would offer kind words and a supporting shoulder, those words and that shoulder disappeared just as quickly when it came time to pay the piper, and she'd rather have no friends at all than a whole flock of fair-weather friends. She had become tired of school, tired of the circles in which she traveled even at such a young age, and it was no different for any of her ideas, her philosophies, and for one so young she did think so deep, and deep thought was unattractive if she paid any heed to the gaggling gossips that made up the vast majority of her gender's population. High school was a pain in the plot, and now that she had graduated, it was time to make something of herself.

These thoughts were running through her mind as she placed a few more things in her saddlebags, which sat open on the bed, filled with the standard fare of traveler's needs; books, toiletries, a few clothes on the off chance of inclement weather, nothing out of place, really. She started to latch the tops when she remembered one last item she wanted to bring; a 5x7" frame that held a photo of her older sister, and her fiance.

Walking over to her nightstand, she reached over and picked up the photo, it's frame careworn from nights of holding it tightly to her chest and staring out her window, toward the direction of Ponyville, over the mountains, beyond the great expanse of desert, and far, far beyond the sight of the most gifted Alicorn. She looked down, and touched the photo gently with her hoof, tracing the smile of her sister's glowing face, her rosemary eyes shining brightly at the pony in her hooves, a beautiful orange earth pony mare with breathtaking, emerald eyes.

"You finally did it, Sis. You've found that special somepony that will make your life whole," she said to no one in particular, her voice filling the quiet room before the sound was absorbed into the silent walls once more. A drop of water marred the glass, and she took a hoof-kerchief from her saddlebag and wiped the photo, removing the tiny puddle, as if it had never existed.

She smiled and placed the photo in her saddlebag, and latched the top. Hefting them onto her back, walked out of her room, closing the door behind her, and trotted down the stairs. She glanced around at the house, empty save for a few remaining pieces of furniture sitting in a corner, before stepping outside and closing the front door. Looking about the neighborhood, she saw nopony around, which was to be expected on a day like today. The Hoof Bowl was the most anticipated sporting event of the year, especially in a city like this one. No doubt Los Pegasus Arena would be filled from wall to wall with excited ponies, cheering on their respective teams with equal fervor. It was the perfect day for it, too. The Sun was bright overhead, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was warm, a breeze tussling at her mane.

While it was indeed warm, that breeze added a slight chill, and she was thankful that she wore her favorite vest today, a light grey with a waffle pattern, and black accents around the shoulders. It complemented her deep purple coat, just as the flat cap, also a light grey with a waffle pattern that sat on her multi-hued mane did the same, it's stiff brim keeping the Sun from her eyes.

Walking out to the sidewalk, past the white fence, she turned and stared at the house. The paint had begun to fade on the shutters and the door, cracking and peeling in places. She had wanted to do something about it herself, but the hooves who had painted those shutters were no longer there, and she felt that it would have been almost profane to touch them, to change anything about them. She felt the same about her mother's flower garden, the lilies and roses still vibrant and growing. She wouldn't change anything about it. She wanted to keep things as they were, to keep memories alive in such a way that even when the world wiped away the last vestiges of their livelihood, their presence would still be felt, would still have meaning in some small way.

This was no longer their residence, but it should have been. Why they chose to move to Baltimare, why her father accepted the Executive Engineer's position on the board of Baltimare Power & Light, why her mother chose to give up her career to be a socialite, she couldn't understand, but it had been done, the papers had been signed, and now the once happy home was just an empty house, and instead of following her parents, Violet Tempest decided the best thing she could do was go to the only other place that had felt real, the only place where love wasn't dependent upon one's social status. Oh, they had begged her to go, pleaded with her to follow them to the rich community of that east coast city, but she politely refused, stating that this was her chance to make her life have value true to her own principles, and not solely to the principles of those who sought her out only to score points with her father.

Still, it hurt to say no, and her mother cried for days. It was her father who chose to embrace her choice. Ever since he had come to terms with his eldest daughter's identity, over many cups of coffee and much discussion with her mother that ended in happy tears and hugs, he had started taking life a bit more openly, smiling more, more than she thought he ever would even as friendly as he was, and he had become more relaxed. The decision to move to Baltimare had been taken in that vein, and her mother, all too happy to leave the massive city and move to a slightly smaller burg with new faces and interesting sights to see, was happy to follow along, her daughter's stubbornness not withstanding. Still, what was done was done, and all had moved forward, as things in life are wont to do.

Taking one more moment, she then turned toward the road that would lead to downtown Los Pegasus. Taking a deep breath, she launched herself into the air, letting her wings take her toward her first stop, the Los Pegasus train station, which would carry her the rest of the way to her destination: Ponyville, and an old red barn, and fields of apple trees, and flowing grasses, where the air was warm and fragrant in the Summer, biting cold and clear in the Winter.

Home.

Following A Train of Thought

CHAPTER ONE

"Following A Train of Thought"

"Ms. Tempest, we would be honored if you would take a moment to step away from your teammates, and gift us with some words. Your bravery in leading your squadron in defeating the vile serpent of the Lost Archipelago has guaranteed the safety and security of every Manehattenite, and will no doubt be remembered through the annals of Equestrian history." The red suited official smiled as he waved his hoof toward the front of the platform, the rest of the Wonderbolts were watching her with pride. Spitfire, the second in command of Equestria's greatest stunt team and aerial strike force, and who was standing to her right, gave her a half smile from underneath her mirrored sunglasses.

Violet Tempest's heart fluttered, but her only action was to turn her head back toward the front of the stage.

The official continued to smile and nod, beads of sweat beginning to form over his brow.

"Come now, Ms. Tempest, don't be shy." He stated quietly, his teeth clenched, and his voice quivering as he gave sidelong glances out to the massive throng of ponies cheering and waving for her to step up to the podium.

A nudge to her left flank from a rather amused, and likely sadistic, Soarin' surprised her enough that she nearly stumbled forward, though she caught herself with enough grace as to make it look almost natural. Almost, because Soarin' only barely managed to catch the laugh that tried to escape from his lips as she recovered. She gave him her most soul withering glare, which had no effect on him, of course, and straightened herself, taking a step forward up to the podium. Off to the side she could hear the official sigh in relief.

She stared out amonst the crowd of eager ponies, their faces shining in the sunlight, looking to her as a hero, as a leader of the greatest aerial team in all of Equestria. Stealing an extra second, she glanced around the giant structure that was Marison Square Garden, packed from front to back, top to bottom with young and old, rich and poor, and that fact never left her thoughts. She had fought hard to get to this point, and she had served the populace well, and she knew what she had to say to the waiting throng.

"I don't deserve this."

She licked her lips and took a deep breath as the crowd went wild. She could hear shouts of "Yes, you do!" and "don't be modest!" from a number of ponies in the rows toward the front, nearest the platform. She saw a foal waving a black, silver, and purple flag with a white cutie mark depicting a silver lined whirlpool.

Another breath. "Please, don't cheer for me. I don't deserve any of this!" she cried out, her voice plaintive. The crowd, sensing something was amiss, began to quiet down as she continued. "I'm nopony special, I'm not some great leader. I'm a fraud, a traitor, nothing more. I don't want this. I don't want any of this! Stop it! Stop looking at me like I belong here!"

The crowd was deathly silent. She was shocked at not only the content, but also the force of her own words. All she knew was that her mind had gone blank, and her mouth had just uttered those treasonous syllables to a stadium of admirers, and in the presence of her teammates. She was speechless, but painfully aware of everything taking place around her, from the hyperventilating official standing off to the side of the podium, to the tears in the eyes of the fillies and colts that were looking up at her in confusion, their fragile feelings hurt by the rejection of their idol.

She fell to the platform, and covered her face in her hooves. Sobs began to emanate from behind them, as she heard the voice of Spitfire in her ear. "Miss, I think this is your stop."

"Miss?"

Violet Tempest started as somepony touched her shoulder. She looked up to see if it was Spitfire, only to realize that she wasn't on a platform at Marison Square Garden, and that the pony speaking to her and touching her shoulder wasn't Spitfire, but was instead an elderly gentlecolt wearing a small, round black hat, and a red vest.

"Miss?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern as he leaned over and looked her in the eyes. "Are you okay? Forgive me for intruding, but I only woke you because I believe we have arrived at your stop."

Violet had recovered quickly, looking around and realizing she was on the Ponyville Express. She was on a train. She took a deep breath and gazed up at the porter, nodding her head and giving him a small "thanks". Concern still evident, but otherwise satisfied, the polite steward gave her a nod, the friendly twinkle returning to his eyes as he cantered away, eager to help the other passengers disembark.

Violet shook off the dream. It had been the second time she'd had it since she had left for Ponyville. While it didn't bode well for her emotional state of affairs, she figured as long as it stayed a dream it was harmless enough. Still, it was probably best that she didn't mention any of this to Rainbow Dash. While she was very intelligent, and very cool, Rainbow Dash had a tendency to try and "fix" things that she didn't know how to properly fix. She shoved the thoughts aside.

Her mental fog lifted and the excitement returned as she grabbed her saddlebags from under the seat, and made her way toward the exit car, smiling as she caught glimpses of Ponyville through the windows.

She noticed immediately, as she stepped out into the bright sunshine, that few things had changed since the more than nine months she had been there for Hearth's Warming Eve. Thinking back to that wonderful holiday, she touched her saddlebags with one hoof, remembering that she still had the silver snowflake ornament that she had received from Rainbow Dash, and the red apple ornament from Applejack. They were just a few of the more important possessions she had decided to bring with her.

Stepping down from the platform, she began trotting across the pathway toward downtown Ponyville. She giggled to herself as she thought of the word "downtown" describing the center of town for a place like Ponyville. She figured it was just a side effect of living in such a large city for so long. She inhaled deeply as she walked, taking in the fresh air of the countryside. She took note of the scent of flowers, daffodils likely, and the fresh green grass, the warm stucco of the small homes she passed, the distinct scent of... chocolate?

I smell chocolate, she thought to herself, and it's getting more noticeable. Sure enough, the delicious aroma of chocolate was beginning to make her mouth water, and her eyelids droop in contentment. She glanced forward and caught a large pink building off to her left. It was a large, two story structure, festooned with giant "sprinkles" and colorful streamers, and Violet knew she had to step inside for just a moment if only to bask in the sweet confections that she knew beckoned to her from outside.

Pushing the door aside, the tiny bell made the occupants aware of the stranger that had stepped inside. Last time she had been here, she hadn't taken the opportunity to come down here in person, and while she regretted that, she planned on making up for it.

Walking up to the counter, she gazed at all of the delicious treats on display behind the glass. Muffins, cookies, cakes, scones, truffles, all so scrumptious and ready to be enjoyed. A squeak from her right let her know that someone had stepped through the double doors. Looking up, she saw a polite gentlecolt with light brown fur, wearing a paper hat, an apron, and a friendly smile.

"May I help you, Miss...?"

"Oh, Violet Tempest, sir. Yes, um, I wasn't going to come in, but I couldn't say no to the breeze that brought me here and forced me to your counter, but, um, do you have anything particularly chocolatey?" Violet asked the polite clerk.

"There's no need to be so formal, you can just call me Mr. Cake, if you like, Miss Tempest." He reached underneath the counter and chose a dark chocolate cherry tart with a mousse and sprinkle topping. "Does this look like the culprit?" He asked as he smiled, pushing the tart forward on the counter.

Violet's eyes shone as the rich scent from the tart invaded her nostrils. She nodded, "Oh yes, that would be the one, si-, er, Mr. Cake. I'll take it!" She began to reach into her saddlebags to remove her change purse, but Mr. Cake stopped her.

"There's no need for payment, Miss Tempest. I'd say that since I remember Pinkie Pie telling me about you being Rainbow Dash's sister, I owe you a welcome to Ponyville token of appreciation. So please take this with my blessing." He placed the tart in a brown paper sack and slid the bag across the counter to the waiting pony.

"Oh, Mr. Cake, no, I insist on paying for this. It looks like it cost you quite a few bits to make it as extravagantly as you have. I always pay for what I need, and this is just something I want."

Mr. Cake waved her protests aside. "Miss Tempest-"

"Violet, if you please", Violet said.

"Very well. Violet, I have to give you this cherry tart. Do you know why?", he asked, a glint of humor in his eyes.

"Because I'm Rainbow Dash's sister?", Violet asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that's part of it, though it's more that I simply want to welcome you to Ponyville, and I had missed my chance on your last visit, which was interestingly enough your first visit, but the primary reason is because this cherry tart broke the law, and forced you into this establishment against your will, and proceeded to make you purchase it, and I just can't abide a baked bad."

Violet raised both eyebrows at this. "Er, don't you mean a baked good?"

Mr. Cake chuckled gently. "No, Violet, a baked bad. It's a long story. I'd tell you to ask Pinkie Pie, but she still has nightmares. Maybe Applejack can fill you in. It's interesting, to say the least."

Violet smiled, and reached forward, taking the brown paper bag and placing it in one of her saddlebags.

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Cake. I insist, however, that the next time I visit your establishment, you let me pay for my treats." She reached out a hoof for Mr. Cake to shake.

Mr. Cake smiled, and accepted the offered hoof. "It's a deal, my dear, and please say hello to Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Apple family when you see them." With that, he returned to the kitchen, the double doors swinging behind him as he went.

Violet was out the door and a few paces away from the building when the words struck her. Mr. Cake had said "Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Apple family".

The thought warmed her as she resumed her steps, hoping to see them all very soon.

She continued heading into the center of town, taking note of the various shops and stalls as she approached the market square. As always, the square was bustling with happy ponies going about their business, buying, selling, and trading their various wares, bits exchanging hooves, the general chatter and hubbub that made such a place the lifeblood of any town.

As she passed a stall selling beaded hoof bracelets, she caught a mint green unicorn pony with a white and green mane waving toward her direction. Violet turned her head and pointed a hoof to her chest, the green pony nodding and smiling in response. While she was hesitant for a moment, Violet figured that this wasn't Los Pegasus, and it was very likely the mint green unicorn wasn't out to steal the contents of her saddlebags, especially not within sight of so many other ponies.

She cantered over to the mint green pony. "Hello. I saw you waving me over. I don't think we've ever met, but do I know you?"

The mint green pony offered a hoof, and Violet shook it vigorously before letting go.

"Oh, no, you don't know me," the mint green pony began, a smile on her face, "but I do know you! Well, kind of, anyway. It's nice to meet you, my name's Lyra! You know, she's told me so much about you, and I remember seeing you last time you were here, but that must have been nearly a year ago! I'm always fascinated to meet ponies who have lived in one of the major cities. Los Pegasus right? Yeah, I've always wanted to go there, but BonBon doesn't like to travel far, so Canterlot's just about the only place we ever go, and if you know Canterlot, it's filled with uppity snooty ponies who look down their muzzles at ponies who come from the sticks, but it really is nice to meet you!"

Violet laughed. "Okay, it's nice to meet you too, Lyra. Um? When you say "she", are you referring to my sister, Rainbow Dash?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep! Rainbow Dash kept telling everypony about you the first week they came back from Los Pegasus. I was helping BonBon deliver sweets to Sugarcube Corner not long after, and Rainbow Dash followed us all the way there, which was nice because it was raining, and she was clearing the path ahead of us so we wouldn't get wet while we talked. Anyway, I didn't mean to hold you up, I just wanted to let you know it was good to see you again!"

Violet smiled and offered her hoof to Lyra, who took it happily.

"Well thank you, Lyra. I hope to get to meet a lot of ponies this time around. We spent so much family time together this past Hearth's Warming that I didn't get to see much of anypony while I was here. It was something I regretted, though I loved the time spent with the ponies I care about. You understand."

Lyra nodded. "Of course! I spend most of my time with BonBon, who is a bit of a bore but don't tell her I said that, which means I miss a lot of parties and hoofball games, and all that other fun stuff, but with all of that, I still wouldn't have it any other way. You make sacrifices for the ones you love, but they don't really feel like sacrifices because you love them. It's not a burden, it's almost like, well, like a gift."

Violet smiled at that sentiment. She turned and prepared to leave, glancing back toward Lyra. "Well, Lyra, I hope to see you again, soon, and I'd like to meet BonBon sometime!"

Lyra waved once more to Violet as the young purple mare turned and trotted away, back along the path that lead out to Sweet Apple Acres.

<(/)*()>

"Consarnit!"

Applejack sat up and shook her left forehoof, glaring at the offending board that had landed right on top of it. She had been working all morning, replacing the fifty meters of broken fence that had collapsed during the recent rainstorm.

After a moment cursing every piece of wood that ever was, she grabbed the board, shoved it into place, and with one hammer swing, she drove the nail into the post. Getting back to all fours, she admired her hoofwork for a moment, and then tossed the hammer and nails into the saddlebag at her hip. She was getting things squared away, and didn't notice the pony that had joined her.

"You did a wonderful job, Applejack! This fence looks like new!"

Applejack turned suddenly, startled at the voice. Her look of surprise lasted only a moment, and then transformed into a beaming smile when she saw who was standing there.

"Well lan' sakes, Violet Tempest! Ain't ya a sight for sore eyes!"

She grabbed the purple pegasus and brought her into a strong bear hug. "It's been nearly a year since ah last saw ya! It's sah good ta see ya again!" She said, her voice muffled as her face pressed into Violet's neck. She pulled back and held Violet's shoulders, "Let me get a look at ya! Ya know, ah didn't figure ya'd be here so soon! We wasn't expectin' ya until next week! There weren't no trouble was they?" she asked, her voice taking on a tinge of concern.

Violet waved a hoof dismissively. "No, no trouble at all. Things wrapped up on the sale of the house, and I figured it was the best time to head on out. You know, save the trouble of getting a hotel for a week or so, and all that."

Her voice took on a careful tone. "That's not a problem is it? I mean, I don't want to put you or Dash out! The last thing I want to be is some kind of stone around your necks!"

Applejack laughed. "Are ya kiddin, sugarcube? Ya ain't no stone around our necks! Why both Dash and Ah have been just chompin' at the bit to see ya comin' back. Shoot, we was flattered that ya wanted ta stay here on the farm instead o' some place like Canterlot. Ah mean, livin' in a small town ain't like livin' in a big ol' city."

Violet blushed. "Oh, you're being too nice, AJ. A big city is no place to live if there's no one there who knows you. No friends makes any place lonely. I wanted to come where I would be welcome and where I could live with friends and family, and that includes you."

Now it was Applejack's turn to blush. "Aw, shucks, honey bear, ah ain't nothin' special, but Ah'm grateful that you think o' me that way."

"Now," she said in an upbeat tone, rubbing her hooves together, "what say you and ah go up to the farmhouse and get ourselves a cup o' coffee and some apple pie? Ah'm sure ya must be famished what with yer comin' out all this way, and them trains, they don't serve nothin' homemade, and ah think that's what could do ya some good right about now, and mahself too. How's that sound?"

Violet's grinned so wide her cheeks hurt. Finally, after the grin faded enough to where she could talk again, she said "that sounds wonderful, AJ! Nothing's better than pie with family! Is Rainbow Dash going to join us?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, she's got some kinda thang where she has ta train some kinda new colt or somethin'. She still don't know yer here." She paused for a moment and added, "ya didn't talk ta Derpy when ya got here, did ya?"

Violet shook her head. "No, I haven't seen her, though I did talk to Lyra."

Applejack nodded for a second and replied, "Well then, she probably don't know yet. Lyra don't say much ta others, but Derpy, well, Celestia love her heart, she likes to burn yer ears from one side up an' down ta other until ya cain't see from all the smoke." At this she chuckled a bit, and motioned Violet to follow her.

Together they walked up the small dirt path toward the farmhouse, side by side, looking forward to the promise of pie and pleasant company. There was only one pony she was waiting on that could make things even better, and her heart soared in expectation.

<(/)*()>

A Room With A View

CHAPTER TWO

"A Room With A View"

"Boy howdy, it sure is good to have ya back here, kiddo," Applejack said to the young pegasus as they entered the house. "When ya left last time ta go back ta Los Pegasus, Rainbow just didn't act right for a week. Ya'll can take a seat right there at the table if'n ya like, an' ya can put yer saddlebags over by th' door if'n ya want." Applejack said as she motioned a foreleg toward the dining room, walking past it to enter the kitchen. Behind her, Violet dropped her bags by the door, and sauntered back into the dining room, taking a seat at the rough, wooden table. Applejack called back to her from the kitchen, her voice echoing from inside cabinets as she removed a number of plates and cups.

"Sa how long ya plannin' ta stay in Ponyville, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she cantered back into the dining room, back laden with plates and cups. She sidled over to the table as Violet made a motion to get up and help her, but Applejack just motioned her away. As Violet took her seat once more, Applejack, in one deft motion, slid the plates and cups from her back, onto her forelegs, and into place on the table, where she proceeded to set one in front of Violet, one in front of her own chair, and one in an empty chair next to her.

"Sugarcube?" came Applejack's voice. Violet realized she had let her mind drift for a moment. She blinked rapidly a couple of times, and looked in Applejack's direction, a look of reproach on her face.

"I'm sorry, Applejack, what did you say?"

Applejack smiled. "Oh, tweren't nothin' important. Ah was just askin' how long ya planned on stayin' in Ponyville. Ah mean, your letter said somethin' about bein' here for much of th' Summer, but ya didn't go inta too many plans after that. Ah figured ya'd want to be gearin' up for that trip out to Baltimare, what with yer need fer higher learnin' and whatnot."

Violet cleared her throat. "Oh, well, the thing is, I-"

"Ya know," Applejack said as she scratched her chin, and not realizing she had interrupted the young pegasus, so focused on her own words, "Ah never did want none o' that fancy learnin' mahself. Was always happy as a farmpony. Life is simple this a-way, and Ah couldn't ask for anythin' better in life. Oh, Ah ain't got nothin' against anypony who wants ta learn new things, and fill their heads with knowledge. Ah appreciate that. Shoot, Twilight is one o' mah best friends, and sometimes Ah wonder where she crams all o' them numbers and figures and whatchamadoos. She's a walkin' library, and that takes some kind o' dedication, real studyin' and workin' hard ta memorize all them things, and from what Ah hear tell and seen, ya've got that same kinda dedication. Yer like yer sister, Violet, when ya put yer mind to somethin', ya just don't give up until you get what yer out to get. Don't tell her Ah said that, it'll go straight t' that big fat ego, o' hers," she finished with a chuckle.

Violet blushed at the praise, even as small butterflies flitted about in her stomach. She began to speak. "You know, now that you've brought it up, I haven't really decided about that, Appleja-"

Before she could continue, she was cut off by the loud cracking sound of the front door bursting open, a familiar voice calling from the family room. "Hey, AJ, I'm home!"

"I'm in the dining room, Rainbow," Applejack called out, winking at Violet. A few moments later, the brash pegasus rounded the corner, her eyes immediately focusing on her partner. She leaned over and kissed her on the neck. "So, what's for dinner?" she asked, her voice lowering to a sultry level. "I hope it's nothing, because I want to take you upstairs, throw you in the bathtub, wet your mane, kiss you all the way up and down that beautiful body, and get you all soaped up. After that, I'm going to lick all the bubbles off your cute little p-"

Violet coughed lightly.

Dash's eyes went wide as she turned to see who it was that had interrupted what she thought was a private moment. She noticed Violet seated at the table, her face blushing hard. Dash could only figure her own face was much the same. She turned to look at Applejack, who had covered her face with her hat. That seemed to be her best defensive move, and Dash envied her.

She turned back toward Violet, and trying in vain to think unsexy thoughts so that the deep red rose of her cheeks would fade, and that she'd look less guilty in front of her younger sister. It wasn't working. In fact, it was probably getting worse. Still, Dash wasn't one to hold back. She would just forge ahead and hope for the best.

"Violet! It's uh, great to see you, kiddo! When did you, uh, you know, when did you get in, what time, you know, the train did it get here, did you come here and hear... things?" She trailed off, her eyes narrowed, and looking from side to side.

Violet had started giggling, but she stopped and put up a hoof to help the giggles subside. "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. It's not like you and Applejack being intimate is a secret."

Dash's eyes went wide once more, her blush deepening, while Applejack pushed her hat further against her muzzle.

"Oh! Um, really?" Rainbow Dash's embarrassment turned to curiosity. "I mean, did someone tell you something? Because I haven't told anyone, not even Derpy even though she-"

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Violet interrupted, "it's simple biology. You're a young couple, you're engaged to be married, so it's only natural that you would be intimate with one another."

"Ah, yeah, I get ya," Dash said, the blush starting to fade, "something you learned in school or something. Cool." She paused for a moment, looking around, and leaned in, almost conspiratorially, "Um, you didn't happen to learn anything else about techn-"

A muffled voice interrupted Dash's question. "Could we please talk about somethin' else now?"

The room was silent for a moment, and then Dash and Violet began giggling fitfully at the modest mare's attempt at mustering whatever dignity she had left. After a few seconds, she, too, joined in on the laughter, taking her cowpony hat and sitting it back on her own mane, her face red with mirth more than embarrassment. Plus, she could never stay annoyed with Rainbow, and especially not with her sister Violet.

A short while later, after things had calmed down, and all the food had been set out, the three mares were happily eating and talking, filling each other in on what had happened since Violet's last visit, and bringing her up to speed on all of the latest news around town. Finally, the conversation drifted over to Violet's itinerary.

"So, Violet," Dash said around a hunk of pie in her mouth, "what are you going to do while you're in Ponyville? You've got all summer to have fun and see how cool it is to live here."

Violet, who had long since finished her pie (and how delicious it was!), looked at her empty plate. "Oh, well, I really wanted to help out on the farm, and I wanted to get a job in town to earn some bits."

Applejack's eyebrows went up at this. "Ya want ta help aroun' the farm? Why that's mighty nice o' ya, Violet. I mean, iff'n ya really want ta help, but it ain't easy work. It's hard from mornin' ta night, and everythin' in between."

"I know, Applejack, but I don't want to be some kind of leech. I want to pull my weight and do my fair share. You two are giving me free room and board, and I can't just let that go without giving something in return. Still, I'm also going to need a job in order to make some bits." Violet reached for her glass of juice and took a sip before continuing. "If I'm going to save up, I need to start now. Do either of you know if any place around here is hiring?"

"Hmm...," Rainbow Dash said aloud, scratching her chin with her hoof, "I could ask around work and see if they need anypony for some part time help moving clouds up in Canterlot. That way, you could help AJ on the farm, and still make some bits on the side."

Violet and Applejack looked at Dash simultaneously, their faces showing surprise.

Dash looked around the room and back at the two mares at the table. "What?" she asked, feeling around her muzzle, "is there something on my face?"

Violet spoke first. "Rainbow, that's a really good idea!"

Applejack piped up, "Yeah, Rainbow, that was pretty durn smart of ya. Who knew ya had it in ya?" she said, turning to wink at Violet. The two mares laughed as Rainbow Dash's face contorted into a frown. "Hey! I'm smart!", she huffed, as the two mares laughter grew. Rainbow Dash snorted, grabbed Applejack's hat, and zipped out of the room.

"Hey, ya consarn razafrazzin' blue winged terror! Come back with mah hat!", Applejack yelled as she jumped out of her chair, and bolted out of the room in hot pursuit.

Violet's giggles subsided as she sat back on her chair. Her heart was light, her mind at ease. It was so good to be with family.

<(/)()>

"We hope this room is cool enough for ya, Violet," Rainbow Dash said to her sister as they climbed the stairs. The evening sun shone through the hallway as they rounded the corner and turned to the right. She pushed the door to the room aside, and moved to allow Violet entry.

There was a large, four post bed with large, fluffy pillows, and a beautiful red and yellow comforter on top that depicted a sunny day in an apple orchard, with apple barrels and swaying trees in the sunlight. Over in the corner of the room, was a large dresser, and a wooden writing desk. Violet, suddenly warmed by the prospect of using the desk, walked over to it immediately. She ran her hooves across the surface, feeling the worn down pattern of the wood grain. This desk had seen much use in it's history. It brought up memories of the last time she had been here.

"Applejack," she called out behind her without turning her head, "you're okay with me staying in Big Mac's room? I know how much family means to you and all, and I just don't want to intrude where I don't belong."

A peep from Rainbow Dash was quickly silenced by an orange hoof, and Applejack slowly cantered over to where Violet was standing. She watched the young pegasus run her hoof over the wood grain, as if in reverence of what secrets that desk had been privy, the years of love, anger, frustration, happiness, and loss that had been indelibly linked to it's own history by the scratching of ink on parchment.

Applejack placed her hoof on Violet's shoulder.

"Sugarcube, Big Mac and Granny Smith felt that it was time ta move on ta greener pastures, ta carry on the Apple family legacy elsewheres. We all got so much ta prove ta so many, we all can't stay in th' same place forever, an' since Rainbow and Ah were stayin' here in Ponyville, we should carry on th' Apple family name and they'd go show those youngin's out in Coltorado what it means to be an Apple farmer. 'least, that's what they done told me, an' Ah don't think they'd be lyin' to any of us."

She put her foreleg around Violet's withers, and nuzzled her ear.

"Let me tell ya somethin' else, darlin'. Yer mistaken if'n ya think ya ain't close family. Ah done told ya plenty o' times over, that yer a part o' this family. Yer the sister o' the love o' mah life, and ya stood by me through thick n' thin, an' Ah will never forget it. Ya know, some ponies use their families fer bits and boardin', and then throw 'em in th' ditch at the first sign o' trouble, but I'm an Apple." She motioned behind her for Dash to come over to where they were standing.

"We're Apples," she continued as Dash put her hoof on the other side of Violet's withers. Applejack grasped Rainbow's hoof and they both leaned in and hugged Violet, whom tears had begun streaming down her face as she turned to look at Applejack, and then Rainbow Dash. She grabbed them both in a group hug, and squeezed, muffled sobs coming from the intermingled manes of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Finally, Violet pulled back, a small smile on her face, her eyes still wet with tears, and small dark streaks running down her cheeks where they had run freely.

She sniffled once more. "We're Apples."

Her smile blossomed until it reached her eyes.

Rainbow Dash ruffled her younger sister's mane. "That's right, kiddo, and that makes us cool."

Then she cleared her throat. "Alright, now. Enough of the sappy stuff!"

She moved away from the trio, and dropped Violet's saddlebags on the bed. "Let's get you packed away, squirt, because tomorrow we're going to Cloudsdale!"

<(/)()>

Later that night, when everypony else had gone to bed, Violet sat at the old, wooden desk. She was scratching away with her quill, writing in her old diary by the weak light of a small candle she had found in one of the drawers. It had been some time since she had written in her diary, but the strong pull of family, the excitement of being away from her old home in a new place with so many opportunities, it made her want to write, and she felt it was better to start up a conversation with an old friend rather than a stranger, and so there she was, putting into words her thoughts and feelings.

Dear Diary,

Today I was given a great comfort. An assurance that I was, am, and will always be, a part of a great family. There's nothing like family, you know, and while there are times that you get angry with them, and refuse to talk to them, or even times when you think you don't need them, I found that a pony who thinks this way will only set themselves up for heartache.

For all of the annoyances family can bring, it also brings one crucial element: love. Without love, a family isn't a family, they're just a group of strangers who just happen to be thoroughly acquainted with one another. It's a weird thing, too. I'm a part of a family that loves each other, and that makes me proud to call myself an Apple.

Speaking of apples, I need to ask Rainbow Dash what they're doing now that Big Mac and Granny Smith aren't around. I had heard that Applejack had hired some cowhands, but I didn't see anypony around today when I arrived from the train station. Surely they wouldn't be without help, especially on an orchard the size of this one! Well, all I can do is ask.

Rainbow Dash, my sister. The greatest sister, my only sister, but still the greatest sister in all of Equestria. I know she acts all cool and aloof, but I know better. That mare is the kindest, sweetest mare anypony could ever hope to know, and she might pretend to be above it all, but her heart breaks just as quickly as the next mare's when she thinks she's lost or unloved. I have made it my vow, as you know Diary, to never let her feel alone or unloved. Now I pass that same vow onto Applejack, who has made my sister so happy, that I can feel the love pour off of them.

I'd never tell Rainbow Dash, but Applejack has surely changed her. She's not quite as brash, not quite as aloof as she once was. Love completed the missing piece in my sister's heart. Who knew it would be fixed by a cowpony from Ponyville? I sure didn't, but it's one of those things that you just can't ever see coming. It's like a reverse Pinkie Pie party, which I can see coming a kilometer away. That should be interesting when it happens.

Well, Diary, I need to get some rest. Rainbow Dash and I are flying to Cloudsdale tomorrow. Hopefully while I'm there I can check out their university while I'm getting a job. I haven't yet told either of them that I plan on staying in Ponyville for a long time, maybe even for the rest of my life. I know I'll have to tell them, and while I believe with my heart that they'll accept that gladly, sometimes you just wonder. There's always that little bit of fear.

But no matter what, I know that Applejack and Rainbow Dash will love me. Rainbow Dash is the heart of loyalty, and whether she knows it or not, so is Applejack, who would weather the fires of Tartarus if it meant protecting her family. I am confident they will accept my decision, and won't bug me to go live in some big city like my parents.

So, until next time I write you, my dear Diary, wish me luck!

~ Violet

With that closing entry, and a quick jot of her signature, Violet placed the quill back in the ink well, blew out the candle, and fumbled her way to the bed. Sliding under the covers, she took one last look around the darkened room, and closed her eyes.

As she lay there, she imagined she could feel the presence of her family across the hall, and with that, her mind became fuzzy, and she drifted off to sleep. After a few moments, nothing else was heard but gentle, rhythmic breathing.

And a light snore.

<(/)()>

It Only Rains On Mondays

CHAPTER THREE

"It Only Rains On Mondays"

Applejack awoke earlier than usual. Sliding carefully out from underneath her soundly snoring partner, she jumped into the shower, quickly scrubbed herself down, and dried herself off with an old towel. On the way out of the bathroom, she tossed the towel into the hamper, stepped inside her bedroom long enough to grab her hat, and was down the steps in two bounds.

She could smell the fried apples before she had passed the dining room table. A moment later, Applebloom came out of the kitchen, balancing a large tray of apple fritters, and a jug of apple juice. In her mouth she held four large, wooden mugs, with handles made just so for a pony's hoof.

She sat the burdensome breakfast on the table and turned toward Applejack. "Herphahish!" the young filly exclaimed before realizing she still had the mugs in her mouth. Blushing slightly, she tossed the mugs up onto the table, and repeated herself.

"Hey, sis!" she called with her usual exuberance. Unlike many others, Applebloom was a morning pony. In general, the Apples were morning ponies anyway, since they had to be, whether they wanted to be or not, but for most of the family it came naturally.

Applejack smiled, and ruffled her sister's mane. "Heya, Applebloom! You're up bright n' early as always! I'm-a guessin' ya had fun sleepin' over at Rarity's last night! Ya'll didn't get inta any trouble, now, didja?" She said, casting an appraising eye at her younger sister's cherubic expression.

"Ah sure didn't, sis!" Applebloom said without guile. "In fact, Miss Rarity was so pleased with our behavior this mornin', that she invited us back again tonight!"

Applejack could recall on one hoof the number of times Rarity could be considered a morning pony, and even being the Element of Generosity didn't really extend to such a quality at 6 o'clock in the morning. Still, Applejack wasn't one to pry, so it was none of her business as to why her friend was so charitable so early in the day.

Still...

"Did Rarity seem like she was feelin' okay, Applebloom?" she asked the young filly. "Ah mean, she weren't feelin' sick or nothin'?"

Applebloom shook her head with a smile. "Nope!" she exclaimed, "she was feeling so good, she made us breakfast, and she was hummin' some kind of mushy love song!"

Applejack's right eyebrow slowly raised as she absorbed this tidbit of information. Still...

"Alright, then. Ya can stay all night tonight. Ah've got work ta do today, anyway. There ain't no more apples ta harvest, but we still have ta get supplies together for the comin' winter. If'n ya would, go wake up Rainbow, and Violet, so they can get some breakfast 'fore they leave fer Cloudsdale."

At the mention of Dash's sister, Applebloom began jumping in place. "Violet's here?! Ya mean she's actually here?!"

Applejack laughed. "She sure is, little pardner. Came in last night while you were with yer friends over at Rarity's. Ah'm sure she'll be happy ta see ya."

Before she could finish, Applebloom charged up the steps and out of sight.

"Ya might want ta wait til' she wakes up!" Applejack called out behind her, before chuckling to herself and sitting down to breakfast.

Applejack ate in silence. She knew that at that very moment, Applebloom would be giving Violet a surprise wake-up call, and that any second, Dash would come trundling down the steps, looking for breakfast. She took the moment greatfully. It's not that she didn't love her fiance, or her sister, or her sister-in-law to be, but sometimes she missed the more lazy days of the farm, when it was just her, Applebloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith. She wouldn't trade her new life with Rainbow Dash for all the bits in Equestria, but sometimes, it was nice to remember the way things used to be. For a pony like Applejack, change could be a blessing, and a curse.

She hoped very much, and with all of her heart, that this change was a blessing.

A few moments later, as reliable as a summer rain, she heard the heavy steps of her lover tromping down the stairs. As she entered the dining room, Dash stopped, yawned, and stretched her legs. She ambled over to Applejack, and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Morning, AJ," she said as she scratched her flank, and sat down at the table, placing two fritters on her plate.

Applejack hid a smile behind her mug of applejuice. "Mornin' Rainbow. Didja sleep well?"

Dash started digging in to her food with gusto, and only nodded her head as an affirmative to Applejack's question.

"So," Applejack asked, "it's past sunrise now, when are ya all gonna head off ta Cloudsdale?"

Dash, her plate already empty, finished gulping down her juice, and wiped her mouth with her foreleg. "I figure we can take off in about half an hour. That should be plenty of time for Violet to get ready, at least if she's as fast as I am."

***

Fifteen minutes later, Dash and Violet were standing in front of the Apples' home. Violet was buckling her saddlebags, with the help of Applebloom, and Applejack was giving Rainbow Dash last minute instructions.

"...and don't stop fer strangers. What with all that changelin' business we done saw the past year, ya don't know who might be what. Ya just go straight to Cloudsdale, help Violet find a nice job on the weather team, and get on back here."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom," she replied, her voice taking on the tone of a young teenage filly.

Applejack smirked. "Ah ain't yer mama," she said as she leaned in closer, "you ain't no school filly," she said, her voice growing quiet, "and I like it that way." Her voice took on a husky quality. "So let's be sure ya get back soon, ya hear?" She licked Dash lightly on the cheek.

Dash's eyes grew wide, and she turned around. "Well, kiddo, time to go! Let's get to Cloudsdale!" She took off like a shot, leaving a confused Violet and Applebloom in her wake.

Applebloom looked over to Applejack. "What was that all about?" she asked, and then noticing her older sister, amended it. "Are you blushin'?"

***

It was another beautiful day for flying. The Sun was high above, and shining down upon the green swaths of grass, criss-crossed with golden patches of wheat and peppered with dots of color; apple, and orange groves; white snow capped purple mountains, and glistening, still blue waters that made up the land she called her home. As she pushed herself just a touch faster through the air, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and felt the Sun warmed wind, mixing with the cold air from their high altitude, caress her muzzle and whip through her mane, following a rapid course along the soft cyan fur of her body, culminating in the fluttering of her tail. It gave her a shiver of delight, and it made her feel alive and happy. Even moreso, and without any effort, she could also hear the strong, measured flapping of smaller wings not far off, the beats coming from her right. That, too, made her happy.

"Do you ever get tired of this?" she heard from the position to her right.

Rainbow Dash, brought out of her meditation, opened her rosemary eyes and glanced sideward at her younger sister. "No way, kid. I was born to fly, and you were, too."

There was a momentary silence between them. Violet took this as a chance to talk to her older sister.

"Rainbow Dash, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, kid. You can ask me anything," she replied, and then amended, "unless it's about math or science, or something totally uncool like that."

In truth, Rainbow Dash liked math and science, but it was the height of uncool to talk about all that stuffy kind of egghead talk, especially with other pegasi, no matter how much she loved her study and reading sessions with Twilight. She had an image to maintain.

Violet took a deep breath. "What would you do, um, hypothetically speaking-"

"Hypa what?" Dash interrupted.

"Hypothetically," Violet replied, "it's another way of thinking about your actions if something were to happen."

Dash frowned. "Oh. Okay."

Violet continued. "Anyway, supposed, hypothetically, that someone you knew didn't want to be a stunt flyer?"

Dash thought that over for a moment, scratching her chin even as the wind flattened her fur against her face. "You mean, like, someone who said they wanted to be a stunt flyer, but then changed their mind later on?"

Violet nodded.

Dash shrugged her shoulders, "I'd say that's fine. You gotta know your limits, ya know? Not everypony can be awesome like you or me."

She didn't notice Violet cast her eyes downward. "Yeah, I guess not."

Rainbow Dash looked over to her sister. "What's up, squirt? Is this something one of your friends was talking about? Is it that Ernie whosits fella?"

Violet gave Rainbow Dash a curious stare, until light dawned on her. "Norbert Whitegrass?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, that's the one."

Violet giggled. "No, Dash. I don't even like Norbert Whitegrass. He's all uptight, annoying, and he likes to pretend he's smarter than everypony else."

"So you're saying you don't have a crush on him?"

Violet's eyes went wide. "A cr-, a crush?! On Norbert Whitegrass?" She stuck out her tongue and pretended to gag on her hoof. "No! Oh dear Celestia, no! He's mean, and rude! Where did you get that idea, and how did we get on school crushes?!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I just figured this was one of those heart to heart moments I see in those after school plays. You know, like that one where the crazy mare kept smacking eggs with a skillet?"

Violet shook her head. "No, not-"

"That was cool, by the way."

Violet stopped for a second and tilted her head. "What was cool?"

"That mare with the skillet. I tried that, and I still don't know what it was all about. It was fun, though."

While Violet attempted to sort out what just happened, Dash interrupted her thoughts with an exclamation.

"There it is straight ahead, kiddo! Cloudsdale!" She took off faster, making a beeline for the metropolis.

Violet turned her head upward, and looked in the direction of Dash's rainbow trail.

She was floored by the view, and it was only on natural instinct that she didn't forget how to flap her wings right then and there. The view was amazing. She could see massive pillars, and titanic cliffs, rainbow falls flowing downward into the foggy mists at the bottom. She could see the Cloudsdale transport hub, where airships traveling back and forth all across Equestria could be seen docking and departing. To her left, she could see Cloudsdale Stadium, where the Wonderbolts performed every other week to crowds of thousands, and all about her pegasi, gryphons, and other flying creatures, going to and fro in the city, outside of the city, beyond the city. It was all a huge, roaring, sky high spectacle, and she was about to follow her sister down into it, in order to find her calling, to find a job, to find Celestia knows what else.

Excitement shivered down her spine as she poured on the speed, eager to catch up to her sister.

A few moments later, they were zipping along downtown Cloudsdale. Violet took note of all of the buildings she saw as she passed them by, zipping up and to the side to avoid the large, floating sign that read "Crazy Cloud Runner's Coffee & Couture."

Traffic was a lot more streamlined than she had imagined. While she had envisioned ponies flying everywhere in a cloud city, it appeared that most kept to designated flying lanes. She didn't see much more in the way of signage, but she kept close to Dash so that she wouldn't be the cause of any major pile-ups. It wouldn't do well to get in an accident while trying to apply for a position on a precision weather team.

"It's up this way, Violet," Dash called out behind her. Sure enough, Violet could see the cloudy outcropping of what appeared to be an administrative building. She pulled up next to her sister as they alighted on the cloud walk, landing gently in front of the complex.

"Is this the weather factory?" she asked Dash.

"Nah," her sister replied, "the weather factory is much bigger. This is just the place where all the weather team leaders come to get their work orders for the day. They built it inside the city hall."

Together they ascended the steps, butterflies in Violet's stomach as they walked through the lobby. Violet was looking around, when she noticed something odd. "Rainbow?" she asked her older sister.

"Yeah, kiddo? What's up?" Dash said she flashed her badge to the security pony at the front desk. He nodded and they continued down a long hallway.

"I saw a pegasus back there, and she was talking to a unicorn!"

"Uh-huh."

"Doesn't that seem odd?"

"Um, I hate to tell ya kiddo, but pegasuseses-"

"Pegasi."

"Right. Pegasi talk to unicorns all the time. What's weird about that?"

"Well, it's not so much that they were talking, but that the unicorn wasn't falling through the floor."

"Oh! Gotcha. Yeah, well you can thank Twilight for that one. A couple years back she found some kind of cloud walking spell, and now any unicorn who wants to work in Cloudsdale can get here by airship, and walk on clouds. Not many ponies outside Cloudsdale know about it, though. Twilight said she didn't want to get a big head or something. If it were me," Dash said, pointing a hoof to her chest, "I would have told everypony. Twilight just doesn't know how to be cool like that, I guess. Not that she can't be cool."

Violet smiled to herself. Of course Twilight would have to be involved in something so quietly groundbreaking, and then deny any recognition for it. She hoped to visit Twilight later on, so she filed away that tidbit of information, making sure she would ask the brilliant unicorn about it later.

"Here we are," Dash commented as she stopped and turned a door handle, "the Meteorology & Weather Services Office."

They both stepped inside, and walked up to the secretary's desk.

"Hey, uh, I'm here to see Sunny Storms."

The secretary looked up from her desk. "Hello, and your name is, Miss?"

"Uh, Dash, ma'am. Rainbow Dash. Ponyville Weather Team Manager, and Fastest Flier in all of Equestria."

"Ah, of course. Hello Miss Dash. May I ask your business with Mr. Storms?"

"Oh, yeah. I need to talk to him about getting my sister here a part time job with the Ponyville weather team."

The secretary smiled politely, and asked them to take a seat while she consulted the Cloudsdale Regional Weather Director.

"I'm a bit nervous, Rainbow Dash." Violet whispered as they sat next to one another in uncomfortable office chairs.

Dash patted her sister's foreleg. "Don't worry, kid. Sunny's always been a pretty cool stallion. I bet he'll take one look at you, and say "that's the pony I want working on my weather team."

***

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I can't hire her."

"What?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she jumped to her hooves. They were sitting in Sunny Storm's cluttered office, Violet was sitting next to Dash, and across from them, behind his messy desk covered in papers, and knick knacks, was the Regional Weather Director for Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and Ponyville.

"I can't hire her." Sunny said, apology imbued in those words. "It's not that I don't want to, she seems like a smart, young, filly, and I know that being your sister means she's probably fast, and agile, and that's what I'd love to have on our team, but there simply are no positions."

Dash put her hooves on the table and leaned over Sunny's desk. "Darnit, Sunny? Why not?! Three pegasuses-"

"Pegasi." Sunny interjected quietly.

"Right. I know that! Pegasi, were let go last week because they were injured in some kind of freak wind storm south of the Everfree forest. Can't she fill in for those guys?"

Sunny sighed. "I'd love to, Dash, but the fact is that the department has been letting pegasi go for a while, now. It's a budgetary issue," and he looked at Violet, who had taken on a despondent air, "it's nothing personal, Miss Tempest. It really isn't. You seem like a wonderful mare, and I don't doubt your abilities, but with the budget issues we're facing, and with the increased risk around the Everfree forest, I just can't hire anypony else until that problem has been relieved. I am sorry, I truly am."

Dash pounded the desk, and was ready to say something else, when Violet put her hoof on Dash's foreleg. "Don't Rainbow," she said with sad finality, "it's not his fault. Bureaucracy gets in the way of the best intentions, even when it claims them for itself."

Dash let her anger fade. She looked to her sister, and looked back to her boss. "I'm sorry, Sunny. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Sunny nodded. "It's okay, Rainbow. If it were my brother, I would have voiced just as much passion." He paused for a moment, then continued, speaking to Violet. "Look, I'll keep an eye out for any Ponyville opening. If I see one, I'll notify you before anypony else, is that acceptable?"

Violet smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, Mr. Storms, that's more than acceptable."

Sunny returned the smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Very good, then. I'll let you know what I hear when I hear it. Until then, you lovely mares please have a good day, and I'll see you next week, Dash, for your latest assignments."

With a final nod, Dash and Violet left the office of the Regional Weather Director, and made their way back down the hall toward the lobby entrance.

"I'm sorry that didn't go like I planned, kiddo." Dash said after they had walked in silence for some time. "I coulda swore he had something for ya." Dash stopped for a moment, and hung her head.

Violet patted her big sister on the back. "Hey, at least he'll be looking around for me. That's almost as good. I'm sure he'll find something, you know? There's always going to be weather, and they're going to need ponies, so it will work out, I think."

Dash smiled, and pulled her sister into a hug.

Violet giggled.

"What's so funny, kiddo?"

Violet rubbed the back of her sister's mane. "You, giving me a hug in public."

Dash chuckled. "Yeah, I'm getting to be a softie in my old age."

Violet smirked. "Oh, don't worry. If anypony says anything, we'll blame it on Applejack. We'll say she's rubbing her uncoolness off on you."

Dash pulled away from the hug with a smile. "Sounds fair to me, sport! Now," she said, patting Violet on the shoulder with a hoof, "what's say we get something to eat? I'm starving!"

***

Support Your Local Librarian

CHAPTER FOUR

“Support Your Local Librarian”

It was after a quick lunch at a local cafe, that Rainbow Dash, and Violet, decided to head home. As the town of Ponyville grew on the horizon, Violet raised the subject of her prospective employment once more.

“Rainbow?” she called, as they steered wide of the Everfree Forest, towering, dark thunderheads forming in the distance.

“Yeah, kiddo?” the older pegasus replied.

“Suppose I don’t get a job on the weather team?”

“Why do you say that? You’re smart, almost as fast as me, and you’re a part of the Dash family. Sunny would be crazy to pass you over, and he’s never lied to me before. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“I know, I know, but what else is there to do if I can’t work the weather team?”

Rainbow Dash scratched her chin in thought for a moment. “Well,” she said, “there’s not many other jobs for pegasuses...”

Violet rolled her eyes, but let the error slide. Rainbow didn’t notice.

“but you might be able to work on the ground. I bet Pinkie Pie would have something for you at Sugarcube Corner.”

Violet balked just a bit. “Oh, uh, the pink pony with the giant cotton candy mane?”

Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, her mane does look like cotton candy, doesn’t it?”

Violet pressed. “I don’t think I could do that. She’s a very sweet pony, and I like her a lot, but I don’t know if I could handle her energy.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Yeah, she can be a bit much if you aren’t around her all the time. She’s a great prankster, though.”

Violet smiled. “She must be a great one if you’re complimenting her on her pranking skills.”

Dash grinned in return. “You have no idea, kiddo.”

“So any other ideas?” Violet asked as they glided over Town Hall.

“Well...” Rainbow began, but was interrupted when she heard someone calling her name. The voice was faint, but unmistakeable. She glanced downward, and saw Twilight Sparkle waving her forelegs in an effort to get her attention.

“Hey kiddo, looks like Twilight needs to see me for a sec. You wanna come on down or head on back to the farm?”

Violet smiled. “I’ll follow you down, Dash. I have a couple of questions for Twilight.”

Rainbow nodded her head, and together they descended from their higher altitude, landing gracefully along the pathway near the Golden Oaks library, where Twilight Sparkle was standing, a scroll held off to the side, encapsulated in her magic field.

“Heya, Twilight, what’s up?” Dash asked as she shook the dust out of her wings and tucked them to her sides.

“Hello Dash!” the purple unicorn responded. She looked to her friend’s companion and nearly dropped the scroll she was still holding. “That can’t be!” She exclaimed, turning and running back into the library without another word.

Violet nervously glanced to Rainbow Dash, whose muzzle showed a smirk, though she only shrugged, indicating she had no idea what Twilight was doing.

A few moments later, the unicorn emerged from the library, holding a large album. She was presently flipping through it, mumbling to herself.

Violet lightly dug a forehoof into the soil, glancing around to see if anypony else was watching the eccentric mare in front of her. No one seemed to pay the slightest bit of attention.

Dash broke the silence. “Tw-”

“Psht!” the unicorn interrupted from behind the massive tome.

A second later, and she shouted triumphantly. “Ha HA! Found her!”

She shut the book, and tossed it through the open doorway. Without the tiniest hesitation, Twilight leapt forward, making Violet jump in surprise, but before she could do anything to ward off her attacker, she was wrapped in the warm embrace of the brilliant mare.

“Violet! Oh, it is so good to see you!” Twilight called out, her voice muffled in Violet’s mane. The purple unicorn pulled back. “Look how much you’ve grown in such a short time! I would estimate at least 3.4 centimeters! Maybe more! I’ll have to get a ruler and get proper measurements.” She stepped back. “I’ll be right back!”

Before the erstwhile mare could make hooftracks for her tools, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat loudly.

Twilight turned around, her face flushing a light red.

“Oh, er, yeah, I’m sorry, I kind of got carried away.”

Dash just shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, it’s no problem, right Violet?”

Violet gave Twilight a half smile, “No way. Actually, if I were a stallion, I’d be flattered at that kind of attention.”

Twilight’s blush turned a darker crimson.

“So Twilight,” Rainbow Dash added, “what did you call us down here for? I mean, you were waving your forelegs like it was really important or something.”

Twilight shook her head clear. “Oh Celestia, that’s right! I have a letter I need to send to the Princess, and Spike won’t be back until tomorrow. He’s over at Rarity’s. I mean, I could take the scroll over there, but if I interrupt him again, he’ll be really angry, and I don’t want a repeat of what happened after that time at the Canterlot Rock Gardens.”

Her expression became bashful. “I don’t mean to make you sound like just a regular mailmare, but, could you, maybe, fly this to Canterlot? I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. The Princess needs this data I’ve collected, and she needs it soon.”

Dash estimated the time it would take to travel to Canterlot and back. At her best speed, she could make it there in less than an hour, and her return trip would be shorter due to the current tailwind. Plus, it was her dear friend, and it seemed important.

“No problem, Twilight. I can get it there faster than anypony in Equestria.”

Twilight floated the scroll over to the cyan mare, who snatched it, gave Twilight a crisp salute, and then shot off toward the direction of Canterlot.

Twilight watched her friend’s profile recede until it became a dark smudge on the horizon.

*ahem*

Twilight looked downward, and saw Violet standing in front of her, rubbing one foreleg with the other, and looking around without making eye contact.

Twilight giggled. “I’m sorry, Violet! How rude of me to forget you were standing there! I promise that won’t happen again! Would you like to come inside for tea?”

Violet smiled, and visibly relaxed. “I sure would. It will be nice to talk with you for a bit until Rainbow returns, if that’s all right with you.”

Twilight nodded, and motioned for the young mare to follow her inside.

***

“And that’s why we were returning from Cloudsdale when you waved us, er, Rainbow Dash, down.”

Violet was sitting on a pillow, in front of a table upon which a pot of tea, a saucer of biscuits, and two empty cups now sat. She had been filling Twilight in on the events of that morning, as the purple unicorn nodded her head to indicate that she was listening.

“I see,” Twilight spoke when there was a lull in the conversation. “I’m rather surprised that there were no opening available. You would think a large facility like the Cloudsdale Weather Service would always have open positions for ponies, particularly ones of your stature and speed.”

Violet blushed at the compliment.

“Still,” Twilight continued, “I can’t see any hostile motive behind the rejection. It is quite likely that his story is true.”

Violet nodded. “I think so, too. I guess it’s just painful to be rejected so quickly after trying. I just want a job until I can figure out what I want to do with my life, you know?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side with a slight frown. “I thought you wanted to be a Wonderbolt? Dash told me you were all excited about it. I remember the competition in Los Pegasus, and just assumed that you were on your way to training for the team.”

Violet took a deep breath and sighed. “Actually, I don’t want to be a Wonderbolt. I mean, I thought I did, but I realized I just wanted to be more like Rainbow Dash. The more I thought about it, especially after the competition, the more I felt it wasn’t for me.”

Twilight paused. “Oh.”

Violet nodded. “Yeah.”

“How did Rainbow Dash take the news?”

“She doesn’t know yet.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yeah. I’ve tried to tell her, but something always happens to take her attention away, and I miss my chance every time. Plus, I’m a bit of a scaredy pony.”

Twilight gave the young pegasus a warm smile. “No, Violet, you’re not a scaredy pony, you’re a pony who loves her sister and doesn’t want to disappoint her. That just makes you a good sister.”

Violet gave Twilight a sad smile in return. “Not much of one, if I lay this on her with only a few weeks before her own wedding. That’s a lot of pressure, and the last thing she needs is her younger sister telling her that the dreams she has are not good enough for her own.” She hung her head.

Twilight stood, and ambled over to the young mare. She wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders. “Violet, your dreams are your own. You have to find them, and make them yours. Rainbow Dash is your big sister, and she has her own dreams. You can’t replace yours with hers, just as she wouldn’t replace hers with yours. You’re a lot alike, the two of you, but you’re not the same pony, and you shouldn’t be the same. For one, you’re probably better at math.”

The two ponies giggled at the small joke.

“Yeah,” Violet said quietly, after a moment, “she never could pull off trigonometry. She would always eyeball everything. It resulted in some... unusual... injuries.”

“You should have seen the catapult.” Twilight commented, her voice tinged with recalcitrant glee.

“Catapult?”

“Oh, yes. Ask her about it sometime.”

“I will. This should be good.”

“It is. Trust me. If you can’t get it out of her, talk to Applejack. She was there.”

“Okay, now I really have to know what happened!”

Again, the ponies shared a laugh.

Violet suddenly sat up straighter. “Oh, that reminds me! I have to ask you something.” she said.

Twilight turned to the young mare with curiosity. “Yes?” she asked.

“When I was in Cloudsdale, before the heart crushing rejection of my immediate goals, I saw something. In the lobby of the Cloudsdale City Hall, there was a unicorn pony who was walking on clouds.”

Twilight nodded. “Uh huh.”

Violet continued. “Anyway, she was just walking along the clouds, like they were solid ground. Rainbow Dash told me that you had found an old cloudwalking spell, modified it, and had made it available to everypony.”

“Really? Rainbow Dash used the word ‘modified’?” Twilight asked.

Violet chuckled. “Not in those words, no. Still, would you tell me how you did that? Why didn’t you seek some kind of notoriety for it? I mean, it’s your business, Twilight, but you’re too smart a pony not to get the attention you deserve.”

Twilight blushed at the compliment. “Thank you, Violet. I’d be glad to show you how I did it, even though you don’t need it. As for notoriety, I’m not interested in being famous. I’m just interested in helping everypony achieve their dreams.”

The unicorn mare paused for a moment, and rubbed her chin with her forehoof.

“Hmm.” she said, in deep thought. “Speaking of achieving dreams, you say you need a job?”

Violet nodded.

“I think I can help you with that.”

Violet smiled, her ears perking up. “Really?”

Twilight smiled in the affirmative. “Yes, I can. I have a stipulation in my own contract for hiring on a research assistant. You have to be willing to do a lot of reading, and you’ll work most weekdays, but I can offer you a small salary in exchange for your help.”

Violet squeed, and it was the purple unicorn’s turn to be caught off guard, as Violet embraced Twilight in a suffocating hug. “Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou! Twilight!”

Twilight’s face had become darker, her eyes bulging as she tapped Violet’s foreleg.

Violet, realizing that she was choking her prospective employer. “I’m sorry, Twilight!” she cried out, panic on her face.

The purple unicorn sat backward, gasping for air. “It’s...okay.” she said, between gasps. After a few more moments, she calmed down, her breathing returning to normal.

“Can I get you any water, Twilight?” Violet asked her, concern on her face.

Twilight shook her head. “No thanks. I’ll be fine.” She smiled. “I’ll take your zeal as a sign of your dedication to doing a fair and proper job.”

“Really, though, I appreciate what you’re doing, Twilight.”

“It’s really no problem, and believe me, you’ll work hard.”

“I promise you I will.”

“And I believe it.”

“So, when do I start?” Violet asked after a momentary silence had passed between them.

Twilight appeared to be in thought for just a few moments, before replying. “Give me a day to organize your work schedule, and to get my own schedule adjusted. You can be here the morning of the day after tomorrow.”

Violet smiled. “Awesome. I’ll be here with bells on.”

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Twilight called out.

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash poked her head around the door. “Hey, there you are!”

Violet and Twilight greeted the brash pegasus.

“Would you like some tea, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

Dash waved her off. “Nah. I got that letter delivered. Handed it right to the Princess.” She looked at Violet. “You ready to go, kiddo?”

Violet nodded, turning to Twilight. “Thanks for all your help, Twilight.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What help?”

Violet turned and walked over to her big sister. “Twilight said I could work for her as a research assistant.”

Rainbow Dash patted her younger sister on the back. “Awesome! You didn’t have to do that, Twilight! That’s a pretty cool thing to do!”

Twilight smiled, blushing slightly. “Well, I needed a research assistant for a while, and Violet, here, is really smart.”

Rainbow Dash ruffled her sister’s mane. “She sure is! She’s going to make a heck of a Wonderbolt someday, aren’t ya kid?”

Violet’s smile faltered slightly. “Um, yeah.” she said, but she managed to bring the smile back. She’d work on that problem later.

“Well, see ya, Twi,” Dash called as she and her sister began heading out the front door.

Twilight nodded as she stood and headed toward the door to close it behind them. “Thank you for taking that letter to the Princess, Dash. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem!” Dash called out behind her, disappearing with her sister past the door.

Twilight ambled over to the door, preparing to close it. As she did, she heard a young voice asking, “What’s this thing about a catapult?”

Twilight smiled as she shut the door with her magic.

***

“We’re back!” Rainbow Dash called out as she opened the door to the farm house.

She could hear Applejack rooting around in the kitchen. “What took y’all so long? There wasn’t much trouble, now, was there?” she said, as she entered the family room, a plate of apple crullers piled high, and sitting on her back.

Rainbow Dash grabbed a cruller, giving Applejack a peck on the cheek on the way past. “Nah,” she said, taking a bite of her cruller, “I mean, well, yeah, a little, but Twilight helped fix it.”

Applejack’s eyebrows went up, as she sat the crullers down on the coffee table. “Twilight? You saw her in Cloudsdale?”

Rainbow Dash’s mouth was stuffed, so Violet answered, lest Dash send baked goods across the room. “Oh, no. You see, the weather authority didn’t have anything open, so we headed back home. On the way, Twilight flagged us as we passed the library, to see if Rainbow Dash could deliver a letter for her. While I waited in the library, Twilight mentioned that she could use some help, and brought me on as a research assistant. I start in two days. I get a salary, and a schedule and everything.” The smile on Violet’s face was effervescent, and it was easy to get caught up in her happiness at finally having a source of income all her own, and a responsibility all her own.

Applebloom tumbled into the room, snatching a cruller on the way by as she gave Violet a hug with her other foreleg. “That’s great, Violet! Twilight’s one of the neatest ponies Ah know! She’ll be real nice to ya, and ya even get some bits to go spending whenever ya like!”

“Applebloom” Applejack interrupted.

“Not only that,” the excited filly continued, “but you’ll be able ta find out all kinds o’ stuff about magic, an’ special talents, and-”

“Applebloom.”

“An’ ya may even discover something’ really groundbreakin’-”

“Applebloom, ya ain’t gonna crusade with Violet when she’s workin’ with Twilight. She's gonna have her hooves full enough as it is, an' she don't need ya messin' about gettin' yerself inta trouble. Ya best get yer saddlebags so ya can head on over ta Rarity’s for yer sleepover.”

The small filly stopped her stream of compliments, and sighed, a flat expression on her face. “Fine.” With that, she made a beeline for her room.

Violet smiled to herself as she watched the little filly galloping away, and wondered if she had every tried anything like that with her parents.

For a moment, she thought about them, and a pang of guilt made its presence known, but was quickly squelched. She had made her decision. It didn’t mean she didn’t love them, it just meant that she had her own life to live now, and if current events were any indication, that life had truly begun it’s own path, with or without them to guide her. She only hoped that they would understand why she needed to do this, and why every filly had to become her own mare.

She took a cruller for herself, and nibbled as she made her way up the stairs to her own room.

(/)*()

Tempest Takes A Job

CHAPTER FIVE

“Tempest Takes A Job”

It was a beautiful day, and Violet was so excited, she couldn’t help but almost skip on her way to Golden Oaks library, where she was starting her new job working as Twilight’s research assistant. It probably didn’t seem like much to some, but to Violet, it was the first major step in her efforts to make her life a successful and happy one. Unlike some of her friends in high school, Violet loved research. She loved studying, she loved the smell and feel of the books and scrolls as they passed underneath her hooves, and she delighted in the mental exercise it required to dig into page upon page of text, and to discover a hidden truth that was sitting right there in front of you the whole time. Those were the best secrets, the ones held right under your muzzle.

She focused herself as she finally stopped, standing in front of the large library door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door and took a step back. A few seconds passed, at which point she heard what sounded like the scratching claws against a door lock. The door flew open, and Violet lowered her gaze to see a purple dragon smiling at her.

“Hello, Violet! Twilight’s been expecting you!” The tiny drake called out cheerfully. A moment later, he stifled a yawn.

“Hi, Spike! Is it okay if I can come in, then?” Violet asked, her head tilting to the side, a bemused expression on her face.

“Oh! Yeah, sure! Sorry, I guess I’m still a bit tired.” The young dragon moved to the side and let Violet in. As he closed the door behind her, he continued. “Twilight had me re-arranging everything last night. Something about a meteor and apology about some kind of something.”

“Meteorological Occurrences and Atmospheric Anomalies.”

Violet turned her head in the direction of the voice that had just entered the conversation. She saw Twilight coming up from the downstairs laboratory, goggles on her face, a clipboard held in her magic.

“I’ve been studying the recent anomalies with the odd weather patterns coming out of the Everfree forest. It’s nothing major, I’m sure, but it is something that the Princess will want fully documented.” She smiled at Violet. “Are you ready to get started?”

Violet nodded, at which point she heard a “here you go” from behind her, and turning, saw Spike approach her with a labcoat and goggles of her own. She saw magic take hold, and in seconds, the goggles were on her face, and the lab coat was around her barrel.

She followed Twilight down the steps and into the spacious laboratory below the library. Violet was in awe as she saw tubes, pipes, electrodes, recording devices, reams of paper, and various oddly colored objects here and there, coming out of every corner of the lab, and there, in the center, stood a purple unicorn, jotting down notes, perfectly at home in her environment.

Violet trotted over to where Twilight was standing, and waited.

After a moment, Twilight looked up at her and smiled. Violet felt herself blush just a bit. She wasn’t accustomed to being the sole focus of somepony’s attention.

“Here’s what I need you to do, Violet.” Twilight said as she cleared some space on the large table in front of her. “I need you to read through these journals left by Sea Sprite, the last meteorologist who had fully documented the weather patterns of the Everfree forest some seventy-five years ago. Obviously some things have changed since then, and I’m going to need you to take down relevant notes where his research differs from my own.”

Twilight placed her own clipboard next to the cleared space she had made, as Spike walked downstairs with the books Violet would need to follow up on Twilight’s research.

“Thanks, Spike,” Violet said as the drake dropped the pile of books on the table.

“Hey, no prob, Violet. It’s pretty cool that you’ll be hangin’ around here now that you work for Twilight.”

“I’m proud of you, Spike!” Twilight called from over her shoulder, while she was reading an old, dusty scroll.

Violet cocked her head to the side, and looked at Spike. “What does she mean?”

Spike began to recite the story about his past encounters with new assistants. “Ya know, I was more of a kid back then, I guess,” he said, scratching at the dirt with a clawed foot. “I’m much too old and mature to fall for that kind of jealousy anymore.” He said, sticking a claw to his puffed out chest.

Twilight smiled as she turned toward the two of them. “Alright, Spike. Violet and I have some work to do. If you’d like, you could go get a few groceries while we work.”

Spike began hopping up the steps, but stopped and turned before reaching the door. “Can I get some ice cream, too?”

Twilight giggled. “You sure can, just make certain ponies can eat it too.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you won’t open your mind to Double Fudge Cream Quartz,” he retorted, before jumping the last couple of steps, and closing the door behind him.

Twilight went back to her research, and Violet cracked open the first of many books, Meteorological Circumstances and Circumferences, hoping to pare down the ream of statistics to a workable, and simplified theory.

As she turned to Twilight’s first set of notes, she took a moment to thank Celestia for her advanced Calculus courses. Twilight had filled every nook and cranny with volumes of figures, both abstract, and imaginary. She glanced over the second page, and saw more illustrations, figures, and estimations.

She grabbed the quill with her mouth, and started reading the large tome in front of her, making comparisons, from time to time, and generally working to resolve the hypotheticals that were preventing further illumination into the matter by which Twilight had been digging so deeply to uncover.

The day passed uneventfully. They took a break for lunch, and Twilight and Violet got to know one another better. Twilight regaled Violet with some of her adventures, and Violet told Twilight about her future, and what she hoped to do with her career options.

That night, she went home late, which would be the norm when it came to Twilight and her research work, but her mind was full, though contented, and so after a quick snack, and a warm shower, she went to bed eager to begin the next day.

Day 2 was more of the same. She got up, took a shower, had breakfast, and practically skipped off toward the library, ready to get started on her second day of research work with Twilight. Like the day before, Spike met her at the door, Twilight was already at work in the lab, and over lunch, they once again discussed different parts of one anothers lives, their hopes and dreams, and as they giggled over small jokes, Spike would occasionally roll his eyes at all the “cutesy” frou-frou silliness, though secretly he was happy to see Violet coming more out of her shell around them.

Like the first day, Violet stayed late, finishing up the first draft on a lab test that had gone slightly wrong (a minor explosion caused both Twilight and Violet to be turned a light shade of green, and reeking of vinegar), much to Spike’s delight (he would go on to refer to them as the pickled pony pair for days). She went home, that night, happy and content, glad she was able to be useful for someone who was so intelligent, and such a kind pony.

It was on Day 3, while cross referencing a theorem from a book titled Windy and Warm: An Observer’s Guide To Tropospheric Cyclical Phenomena, when she dropped her quill in surprise. She quickly checked the figures on her draw sheet, and then glanced back at the book she had open. Seeing that they matched, she looked up at the purple mare, who was studiously working on a chemical composition, a beaker in one grip of her magic, a vial in the other.

“Um, Twilight?” she asked, “I hate to bother you, but can I ask you a question?”

Twilight nodded without looking away from her work. “Sure, Violet! Ask any question you need. That’s what lab partners do.”

Violet felt a warm pang of appreciation at Twilight’s casual inclusion of the young mare, but pushed forward before she lost her train of thought.

“You told me that we were documenting the Everfree forest’s weather patterns, right?”

Twilight nodded as she eyed the amino acid levels of a beaker sitting on a bunsen burner. “That’s right,” she said, and tapped the beaker. Violet watched as it changed from a sickly yellow to a bright cherry red.

“Well,” Violet replied, “I was looking at your long form equation here, and to be blunt, it looks more like you’re preparing to manipulate the Everfree’s weather into something less dangerous.”

Twilight turned toward her and smiled. “That’s right.”

Violet took in a deep breath, and said rapidly, “but isn’t that dangerous? I mean, I know you wouldn’t put anypony in danger but I’m pretty sure messing with the Everfree’s weather pattern could result in very bad things happening.”

She cringed, waiting for Twilight to get upset at her questioning the brilliant mare’s work.

“Violet, are you okay?”

Violet opened one eye, and saw a curious Twilight staring at her. A moment later, Violet opened the other eye, and relaxed slightly.

“Aren’t you mad?” she asked the purple mare.

Instead of showing concern at Violet’s impetuousness, Twilight simply smiled. “No, silly filly, why would I be mad?”

Violet began blushing at her apparent faux pas. “Well,” she mumbled, while rubbing one foreleg with the other. “I thought you would be upset with some new upstart like me trying to second guess your work.”

At this pronouncement, Twilight’s smile turned into a giggle. “Of course not! We’re partners. That means you asking questions when you need them, no matter what they’re about. I mean, I trust your judgment, Violet. Just the past two days alone have shown that you’re studious, disciplined, and very smart. I’m very happy to have you on the team.”

She turned toward the clipboard and picked it up in her magic. “Yes,” she said as she flipped several pages, “one of my goals is not only to keep the Princess informed of the Everfree forest’s weather patterns as of late, but also to find a solution to the increasing storm activity. There’s-”

A voice interrupted her from upstairs. “Twilight, Violet, it’s supper time!”

A second later, Twilight’s stomach rumbled. “Oh my,” she giggled, “I guess it is time to get something to eat!” She motioned to Violet. “Come on up, and we can discuss this while we’re making our tummies stop growling!”

After quickly washing up, they sat down at the dinner table, plates laid out before them, loaded down with daffodil sandwiches, baked cucumber slices, and hay fries.

“This looks delicious, Spike!” Twilight said as she took a bite of her sandwich. Violet followed suit. Spike munched on some hay fries slathered with onion sauce, and sprinkled with peridot pieces. For a few minutes, the trio at in silence. Violet finally resumed her question from earlier.

“So, Twilight, what are your plans for the Everfree forest?”

Twilight finished a cucumber slice, and dabbed her muzzle with a napkin.

“Well,” she began, “my theory is that there is a magical imbalance, perhaps resulting from an overabundance of output coming from the Everfree, and it’s causing havoc with local Equestrian weather.”

Violet thought on this a moment before replying. “So what you’re saying, is that if we, I mean you, find a way to neutralize this source of high level magical output, the remaining magic should bleed back into the Everfree from the surrounding area-”

“Reducing instability, that is correct.” Twilight finished, and then smiled. “That’s terrific, Violet! I mean, I knew you were smart, but I didn’t know you had such a grasp of the finer points of the physics behind it. I’m impressed!”

Violet blushed hard. She turned away from Twilight and Spike.

“Are you okay?”

Violet nodded at the question. “Oh, I’m fine. I’m just not used to being heaped with praise by someone I respect so much.”

Twilight grinned. “Aw, that’s so nice of you to say that! I really am lucky to have such a wonderful research assistant!”

Spike made gagging motions with a claw.

Violet felt warmth permeate every square centimeter of her body.

Twilight looked down at their empty plates. “Well,” she asked as she looked up at a blushing Violet, “are we ready to get back to work? The Everfree won’t tell us the problem itself!”

Violet grinned. “Ready when you are, partner.”

(/)*()

Stormy Weather

CHAPTER SIX

“Stormy Weather”

The Sun beat down upon her orange coat as she used the sledgehammer to pound the wooden post further into the ground. Her only relief was the shade provided by the hat sitting atop her head, and even that began to protest the heat.

She stopped for a moment, and took off her hat as she looked along the fence that ran beside the northwest orchard, fanning herself. Noting with satisfaction that the fence looked far more secure than it did at the start of the day, she wiped her brow, placed the hat back on her head, and began tossing tools back into her cart. Finishing this task, she began to make her way back up toward the utility shed.

She acknowledged the howdy of every farmhand she passed, and was pleased to see that most of them didn’t pay her no heed, as they were too engrossed in their labors to stop and chew the hay, even for a moment. It wasn’t that she thought the ones who did were being lazy, but it was always a good sign when it seemed there was too much work to do. A busy farm was a happy and prosperous one.

Coming upon the large building, she pulled the cart inside, and backed it into the wall, where it gently came to a rest. Releasing herself from the harness, she took a moment to stretch, feeling a crick in her neck as she did so. She ignored it for the moment, knowing it would probably annoy her for the rest of the day, and made her way back toward the house.

As she approached their family home, she noted how quiet the place was these days. Ever since Big Mac and Granny Smith had decided to join family out in Coltorado, things had felt different. Applejack had practically begged them to stay, but Granny Smith had insisted that the family needed to prune its branches, and for new roots to settle down into the Apple Family Acres soil, and when Granny made up her mind, that was it.

She had taught Applejack, Big Mac, and Applebloom everything she knew about Zap Apples, about the family history, how to love and respect everypony, and how to live a good, and honest life, and even though Granny Smith was still around, that she wasn’t here, in this house, doing what she did every day, it was keenly felt. What made it all the more noticeable was the lack of her older brother; a stallion of few words, but even in silence, you could feel his presence. That’s what had made the place feel alien and strange. It felt like they were gone forever; far off in a foreign world never to be seen again, even if, in truth, they were only a couple day’s train ride away.

They say home is where your heart is, Applejack, but what do you do when your heart is in two places all at once?. The thought had come unbidden, but before she could answer the errant thought, she sensed a familiar presence.

“Hey, AJ. What’s up?”

Applejack turned her head and glanced over to where Rainbow Dash was now standing. In response, Rainbow sidled up to Applejack and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Applejack responded, giving Dash a nuzzle of her own. “Not much, really. Ah was just standin’ here, thinkin’.”

“Thinking about what?”

“Well, ‘bout the way things used ta be, if ya really want ta know.” Her voice had a bit of a hard edge to it. More than she had intended. “It feels lonely here, sometimes. Granny an’ Big Mac are gone, Applebloom spends most o’ her time at Rarity’s these days, and we’re always busy takin’ care o’ what needs takin’ care of. It’s like no one lives here any more. Like we all jus’ use it as a place ta sleep an’ eat. Home jus’ don’t feel like home no more.” Tears welled in her eyes.

Rainbow draped her foreleg over Applejack’s withers, bringing the mare close to her chest. “Hey, AJ,” she intoned softly as she wiped the orange mare’s tears, “I didn’t know you felt that way. Why didn’t you say something before?”

Applejack gave Dash a sideways glance, and raised her eyebrow. “When did we really have the time, Rainbow? We get up, eat breakfast, ya give me a little kiss, and ya head off to take care o’ the weather. I wash the dishes, get Applebloom off ta school, and get to workin’ here. We ain’t even got time ta spend together, we ain’t had time to even plan our own weddin’. We’re gettin’ married, soon, an’ we ain’t even sent any o’ the invitations or anything!”

“You’re not mad at me, are you AJ?” Dash asked, leveling a look at her marefriend.

Applejack met her gaze. “Nah, Ah ain’t mad, sugar cube. It ain’t nothin’ ya could do. It’s just the way things are ‘round here. We’ve always been a hard workin’ family. Ah guess Ah just miss havin’ all that family around at the end o’ the day to make it all worthwhile, ya know? Ah mean, when it was me, an’ Big Mac, Granny Smith, an’ Applebloom, gettin’ together and havin’ supper, talkin’ 'bout our day, that made all the hard work an’ struggle worth it. Now what do we do? Yah work, Ah work, and Applebloom goes ta school, comes home long enough for a howdy, and then she’s off ta Rarity’s.”

Rainbow Dash took all of this in, and it bothered her. She was a mare of action, and seeing that Applejack appeared almost helpless disconcerted her. She vowed to herself that she would solve their problems, and give Applejack the happiness she so needed.

“You know what, AJ? I think we need some time together. Just some time for us to go spend together without anypony around.”

“Well, what do ya suggest?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I think we need to have ourselves a picnic.”

***

An hour later, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were laying on a checkered blanket. Dirty cups and plates were stacked off to the side, next to a now empty picnic basket. They were huddled together, with the back of Applejack’s head against Rainbow Dash’s chest. The cyan blue mare was stroking her marefriend’s mane, as they marveled at the beautiful flowers surrounding the lake by which they had chosen for their picnic retreat. Not far away, a waterfall cascaded down a cliffside, offering a soothing background of rushing water as it gushed headlong into the lake below, the thundering of that collision becoming a peaceful drone further away along the lakeside.

The lush green grass was peppered with lilacs, peonies, daffodils, and marigolds. Here and there, daisies could be found in patches, their stark whiteness offsetting the gorgeous rainbow hues as the evening Sun of Celestia’s eternal watch cast it’s evening visage upon them, with several clouds turning a pink cotton candy hue and casting their shadows on the tall trees below. From those trees, the birds chirped happily as they flitted about, going from tree to tree, tweeting, and flapping, and climbing high into the sky, only to swoop down upon another tree top, surprising their loved ones with joyful chirrups, the warm breezes carrying that joy throughout the glade. It was a paradise in every sense of the word.

Applejack lay nestled up against Dash’s chest as the pegasus ran her right hoof through the farm mare’s mane, her braids no longer holding her hair back, leading to the creation of their own waterfall of blonde hair, cascading down around the mare’s shoulders.

Rainbow Dash stared silently at her marefriend’s freckles, highlighted by the Sun, as if it were to say, “look at this beautiful mare, in all of her unassuming glory. She doesn’t even have to try, and yet she is more beautiful than the flowers of the field.”

Dash could do nothing but silently agree with the Sun’s assessment. She watched as Applejack’s emerald eyes gazed out over the beauty of the landscape around them, a stalk of hay in her mouth.

This went on for several more minutes, and in Dash’s opinion could have gone on until the end of all time, but nothing gold can stay, and so it was Applejack who eventually broke the silence.

“Hey Rainbow?” she asked, not too loudly, lest she disturb the peaceful setting around them.

“Yeah, AJ?” Dash responded with equal measure.

“Ya remember that day we competed in th’ runnin’ o’ the leaves?”

“Yeah, I mean, how can I forget it?”

“Well, I just want ya ta know, I loved ya even then.”

“You know what, AJ?”

“What?”

“I loved you then, too.”

“Ya did?”

“I sure did. You know why?”

“Why did ya love me then, Rainbow?”

“Because I have a soft spot for ponies almost as awesome as I am.”

Applejack chuckled, reaching back to pop Dash in the shoulder. Rainbow Dash caught it with her hoof, and leaned down, kissing Applejack’s foreleg. She began to plant kisses up Applejack’s foreleg, taking a moment to move aside several stray hairs, and leaning in, gently kissed Applejack on her neck.

The orange mare inhaled a sharply.

Spurred on by her marefriend’s reaction, Rainbow Dash kissed the mare’s cheek, and nibbled on her right ear. The farm pony turned her head as Rainbow Dash came in for another kiss, and their lips met. Eyes closed, and hearts inflamed by the pure, intimate contact, they pressed into one another, with Applejack turning slightly in order to more comfortably reach her marefriend.

The kiss solidified as Rainbow Dash ran a foreleg down Applejack’s chest, tracing the countours of her stomach, causing Applejack’s eyes to snap open and draw in a breath, their kiss breaking, Dash’s lips forming into a smile instead, as her hoof traveled in lazy circles on her marefriend’s stomach. Applejack’s breathing quickened. “Rainbow,” she began.

Dash smiled. “Yeah?”

“I-” Applejack had began, but a clap of thunder interrupted her words.

Both ponies jumped from the sound, Applejack’s hat falling off of Dash’s head. Upon looking around, the pair noticed that their once ideal picnic spot had become an overcast portent of stormy weather.

Rainbow Dash scratched her mane in puzzlement. “There’s no storm scheduled for today.”

A flash of lightning and a peal of thunder told the weather pony that schedules were being ignored, and, with some regret, got to her hooves, helping her marefriend up in the process.

“Stay here, Applejack, while I check out what kind of storm we’ve got here.”

Applejack kissed her marefriend on the lips. “Don’t do anything foolish, now,” she said as she pulled back.

Rainbow Dash cocked her a confident smile. “When have I ever...” at which point she faded off and blushed a bit, as she saw Applejack raise an eyebrow, a frown appearing on her face. It didn’t last, however, and a moment later she just laughed and exclaimed “Exactly!”

Rainbow’s confidence returned. “Eh, don’t worry. I’ll just take a quick look around and come right back down before the storm starts.”

A drop of rain splashed on her muzzle.

Applejack noticed the errant drop. “Ya better hurry then, Rainbow. Looks like the storm’ll be here any second. Ah don’t mind sayin’ Ah don’t want ta be out in a field in the middle o’ no gullywasher.”

Rainbow Dash nodded her agreement, and took off like a shot into the air. Applejack watched as her lover’s form disappeared beyond the lower edge of a menacing cloud bank. She felt something bump her back leg. Glancing downward, she saw her hat laying there. She picked it up and dropped it back onto her mane, it’s presence offering little in the way of protection as the occasional wind began to kick up.

Fortunately, a cyan blur came into focus a few seconds later, and materialized into the sleek form of Rainbow Dash, who landed a hoof-ful of yards away. AJ trotted up to her as she got her bearings.

“So what’s it lookin’ like?” she asked the pegasus.

“Not good, AJ,” Dash replied, “the tops of the clouds are still building, and it’s looking like a huge rainstorm will start dropping here really fast. Maybe some lightning, possibly hail. If you’d like, instead of us running back to the farm, I can fly you there.

“You sure you can handle me and this wind at th’ same time, sugarcube?”

Dash’s air of cockiness appeared. “You’re talking to the fastest and strongest mare in Equestria. Of course I can.”

Applejack gave Dash a withering look. “Fastest? Sure, Ah’ll grant ya that one, but strongest? Ah’d say that’s up fer grabs, sugarcube.”

A bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, causing a smouldering branch to crash to the ground, and a peal of thunder that rumbled beneath their hooves.

“Look, AJ, I think we can argue about this later. Right now, I’m trying to get us out of here before mother nature tries to kill us.”

Her look brooked no argument, and AJ quickly climbed onto her lover’s back, and gripped Dash’s neck.

“Hold on tight, AJ, this is going to be rough!”

“Ah’m holdin’ on, sugarcube! Wild ponies couldn’t pull me off’n ya!”

Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash flapped her powerful wings, and they were off the ground, on a path toward home, hoping to beat the giant storm before it decided to beat them first.

***

They made it to the front of the gate right as the storm began dropping it’s storehouse of water in the form of raindrops, both frigid and massive.

The two ponies hurried through the gate, up the front porch, and into the house. AJ slammed the front door behind her, the heavy rains beating against it.

“Ha! Made it in first!” the brash pegasus called out behind her.

Applejack turned around to see a triumphant look on Dash’s face. The pegasus was oblivious to the dripping water cascading from her mane, and the rest of her body, leaving a puddle on the hardwood floor.

“Well, that’s all nice and such, but ya might want ta do somethin’ about the mess yer leavin’ on the floor, Rainbow.”

Dash looked down, seeing the water begin to head toward the rug.

“Anything else I can do, Rarity?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at the orange mare. “Maybe I can help you get into a frou frou dress and wear a pretty little bow, too.”

She stopped for a moment, a small smile playing at her lips. “You know what? I think I’d like to see you in a pretty little dress with pretty little bows. Highlight your sweet, dainty feminine side, you know?”

Applejack’s eyes went wide. “Dainty?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Oh yeah. Definitely dainty. We can get some tea cozies-”

“Tea cozies.”

“Yeah, and maybe some lacy white curtains-”

“Lacy?”

“Yep, the ones that gently waft in the breeze, and I can come home from a hard day’s cloud bucking, and see my pretty little wife in her nice little apron-”

“Did ya say ‘little wife’?”

“I sure did. My pretty little wife to kiss me on the cheek and say,” and for this Dash took on a high pitched voice, “‘Hello dear, Ah’m so happy ta have ya home to protect me from the big ba-’”

Before she could finish, Applejack pounced on her, the two of them jockeying with one another, rolling around laughing, each one vying for position on top of the other one. This continued until they rolled over far enough to bump into the coffee table, at which point the bowl of apples sitting on top decided to spill over and bonk them on the head.

At this, they stopped, and laid on the floor for a moment, catching their breath. Applejack could hear the pitter patter of rain falling upon the tin roof, creating a staccato pattern, one that was relaxing as much as it was noisy.

She turned her head toward Rainbow Dash, who was looking back at her, and before she knew it, she had crossed the distance between the two, and had planted her lips on her lover’s. They embraced one another, both sopping wet, they were, from their escape from the rain outside, and the sweat of their rough play. It didn’t matter. They were in each others’ forelegs, and they were alone. All in all, even with the rain cutting short their perfect picnic, it had still been a wonderful day.

A few moments later, they pulled away.

“I think we made a mess of the living room,” Dash said as she sat up, looking around, taking notice of the soaked and muddy rug upon which they were laying.

Applejack chuckled. “Now who’s actin’ like Rarity?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “It’s not me. There’s no way I’d ever wear one of those frou frou dresses.

Applejack could hear Dash’s teeth chattering just a bit as she spoke. Being wet and covered in fur didn’t help matters, either.

“Hey, sugarcube,” she said, “why don’t we run upstairs and take a nice, warm shower? After all o’ what’s happened today, Ah’ll bet we’re mighty dirty.”

Rainbow Dash’s face lit up as Applejack gave her a peck on the cheek.

Applejack began to make her way up the stairs.

“Don’t forget mah hat,” Rainbow Dash heard as she watched AJ round the corner at the top of the steps.

Wasting no time, Dash grabbed AJ’s hat with her teeth, and clambered up the steps right behind her marefriend, whose unspoken promise to get her very clean kept ringing in her ears.

***

It's Twilight Time

CHAPTER SEVEN

“It’s Twilight Time”

“A little higher, Violet!”

“How’s this, Twilight?!”

“Perfect! Hold it there!”

Violet flapped her wings to stay in position, as the winds buffeted against her. She was holding the metallic sphere Twilight had built in the lab, as she hovered a hundred meters above the ground.

They were out in a large, open field just southwest of the Everfree forest, it was early morning, and Twilight was taking measurements. The wind was pushing her mane in her face as she was scribbling her observations onto a clipboard, would have to, on occasion, use a quick burst of magic to brush the errand strands of hair away to keep her vision unobstructed.

“That may not be high enough...” she mumbled to herself as she checked the figures she had just jotted onto the paper. She looked up into the air, in the direction of Violet, who was holding her magnetic sensor array, one designed to test the ionic dispersion rate in a localized atmosphere.

“Violet! I’m going to need you to take it about 50 meters higher, if you can!”

She watched as Violet nodded, and soared higher, becoming a blob of purple at 150 meters up. At that point she would likely be out of voice range, thanks in particular to not only distance, but also the howl of the wind.

She checked her figures once again, and gave herself a mental nod of approval. The figures were sound, the math was correct. Gazing up and focusing on the shiny glint that was the sensor array, she fired off a strong burst of magic from her horn to activate it.

Violet almost dropped the array when it suddenly started beeping and whirring. She quickly realized it was doing what it was supposed to do, and kept as still as possible, knowing that too much movement would mess with the sensor’s ability to detect the magnetic background emanations given off by the Everfree’s powerful systems of nature, whatever they were.

Squinting her eyes, she could see Twilight way down below her. Probably going over her figures once again, she thought to herself as she watched the meticulous pony going about her business.

150 meters farther down, back on the ground, Twilight was watching the readouts from her portable station. Reams of paper were being printed at a fast rate, but not so fast that Twilight couldn’t read the statistics and jot down her calculations. Her eyes were glued to the printouts as they sped by her.

Meanwhile, back up in the air, Violet had taken a few moments to daydream. She was holding her position, her forelegs keeping the sensor array stable, and her wings steady against the gusting winds, but her mind was elsewhere. She was quickly brought out of that reverie by an odd beeping coming from the array. Granted, there were already a number of beeps and whistles emanating from the odd device, but this one was different. This was one that made your subconscious mind alert you that something was wrong. Most scientists had this inherent ability, and while Violet wasn’t a scientist per se, her instincts were no different, and she started looking around to see what options she had should something go wrong.

On the ground, Twilight cross-checked her clipboard with her other instruments, watching the feedback from the array dumping raw data into her machines, the readouts showing a marked disturbance in the scattered electricity surging through the atmosphere near the Everfree. She exclaimed in delight. This was it! She had found the source of the odd disturbances in the forest’s weather patterns. With this information she would be able to return balance to the forest’s freakishly autonomous weather system.

She was scribbling the newly formed equation onto her clipboard when she heard a warning beep coming from the receiving station that was printing the sensor array’s data. Glancing over to the console, she watched in surprise as the printouts began indicating large spikes of electrical feedback.

A power surge! she realized, and turned up toward the spot in the sky that was Violet Tempest.

“Violet!” she called out, but received no indication of a response. Quickly, she charged her horn and fired off a magic burst, in order to shut down the sensor array.

Violet watched as the array began smoking, a roiling black smoke accompanying the high pitched whine that had begun replacing the odd beeping. She was torn between dropping the array to save herself, or holding on to it in order to keep from disappointing Twilight, who would surely be upset that her lab partner had dropped such an important piece of scientific equipment.

Fortunately for her, a dazzling splash of magic burst all around the device, and the array went silent. She breathed a sigh of relief, and began heading downward, towards Twilight’s position on the ground. She was curious about the results Twilight had managed to gather, and hoped that they had found enough data to correlate with the odd disturbances happening in the Everfree.

As she approached the ground, however, at about 50 meters, she felt a massive burst of wind slam into her back, pinning her wings against her body. The ground began to rush up toward her at an alarming rate. As much as she struggled, Violet couldn’t get her wings to open back up, and she began spiraling completely out of control.

Twilight watched in horror as Violet came hurtling downward. Seeing that her wings were neither flapping nor spread, Twilight could only assume Violet had been hit by a microburst or heavy downdraft, one too powerful for which she could compensate.

Using her magic, Twilight tried to encircle Violet with a bubble of lighter than air magic, in order to soften her fall. It was all she could do at that distance. She broke into a gallop, heading toward Violet’s direction, all the while hoping that what she had managed with her magic would be enough. As she crested a hill, she saw Violet disappear below the horizon. She pushed her body with every fiber of her being, hoping against hope that she would not find what her analytical mind was telling her would happen to a pegasus slammed into the hard ground from a more than 50 meter altitude.

A minute later, Twilight skidded to a stop as she approached the crash site. She saw the sensor array in a smouldering heap to her immediate left. Hurriedly, she began searching around the higher grasses, looking for the outline of a violet pegasus and her multicolored mane. She tried desperately not to panic, and kept her valid, yet unhelpful, fears at bay as she pushed the weeds aside, scouring the ground for the young pegasus.

After five minutes of searching, Twilight had reached a steady panic. There was neither hide nor hair of the young mare, and Twilight had long since dissolved into a state of dizzying fear.

“Violet!” she called out for what felt like the thousandth time, and again, for the thousandth time, she received no response. As she cantered forward again, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the still smoking heap of the sensor array, and realized she had traveled more than a hundred yards, and still no sign of Violet.

“Maybe I’m too far aw-oof!” she said, interrupted as she tripped over an object in the grass. She tumbled to the ground and lay there for a moment, getting her bearings. She opened her eyes and sitting up, looked behind her to see what she had tripped over.

The object was violet, and very much a pony.

Twilight gasped as she launched to her hooves, running the short distance to where Violet lay in the grass.

She began examining the pegasus, trying to assess what damage she had incurred from her fall. The first, and most terrifying, thing she noticed was that Violet didn’t appear to be breathing. Tears began to well at the edge of her vision as Twilight carefully turned the pegasus’ body over. She saw Violet’s eyes closed, and that her chest was not moving up and down. She leaned her ear against the pony’s chest. She could hear the very faintest heartbeat.

There’s still time she thought as she rapidly accessed the emergency procedures she had learned long ago when she was studying the medical subcourse at Celestia’s School for Gifted Students.

Quickly, using the tip of her hoof, Twilight checked inside Violet’s mouth to make sure her tongue wasn’t blocking her airway. Noting that there was nothing blocking the passage, she tilted Violet’s head back slightly, and using one hoof to close Violet’s nose, she leaned down, and bringing her muzzle into contact with Violet’s, she gave two slow, deep breaths, watching to make sure Violet’s chest was rising and falling with each breath.

Seeing this, she continued, giving Violet another breath every five seconds. Over the course of two minutes, Twilight continued her rescue breathing. She wanted to break down into tears, to cry until the panic would subside, but she knew that Violet’s life was in her hooves, and that if she expected to save this young pegasus, she had to continue being her lifeline.

She resolved to keep her fear at bay, and with calm collectiveness, Twilight continued breathing into Violet’s body, hoping to Celestia that she would get a response.

Then it happened. At first, Twilight wasn’t certain, but she stopped for a moment to watch Violet’s chest. Several terrible seconds she waited, hoping she wasn’t doing this in vai- there! There it was! Twilight let out a yelp as she saw Violet’s chest rising up and down on its own. A second later, she heard the pegasus draw in a deep breath, and Twilight reached down and kissed the young mare on the cheek as she wept, tears of joy falling down her muzzle.

***

Aside from having a screaming headache, she felt oddly fine, considering she must have slammed into the ground so hard as to create a permanent pegasus shaped crater in the dirt.

In the blackness, she could hear soft whirs and beeps. A quick bolt of panic shot through her, that maybe she had landed underneath the sensor array, but after a moment, she recognized the sounds as those of a hospital room. That confirmed, to her anyway, that she had survived, assuming she wasn’t floating above her own body lying in some hospital bed.

She very gently cracked open one eye. Light poured in, and was painful for a moment, but she had to know. She saw directly above her, and realized she was seeing soft bluish green tiles. A hospital room ceiling. So she was laying in a hospital bed. Accepting this as a good sign, she slowly opened the other eye and let it adjust to the light in the room. That she could see out of both eyes made her breathe a sigh of relief. That was working in her favor as well, so far.

Blinking a few times to ease the soreness of having opened her eyes, she slowly turned her head. Aside from some stiffness and a twinge of pain at the base of her neck, she could move it well enough.

She immediately noticed that she had a companion.

Sitting next to her, in what must have been a very uncomfortable chair, Twilight Sparkle sat dozing. Violet’s heart warmed as she heard the mare’s soft breathing, punctuated by an occasional light snore. She smiled as she watched the unicorn, her heart filled with pride at knowing Twilight Sparkle. It was filled with something else, too, but she was unsure of what it was. She knew it was something important, something major, but the feeling was sitting at the edge of her awareness, and she just wasn’t sure what it was.

The pride, though, she recognized that right away. Pride was certainly something not unfamiliar in the Dash family.

Hearing her mind touch on that name, she glanced around the room, and sure enough, sitting on the couch against the wall, lay Rainbow Dash, with Applejack asleep next to her. Her eyes welled, and a single tear escaped down her cheek. A small sniffle escaped her, and it was enough to wake Twilight, who sat up from her slouching position, and turned her attention toward the bed.

Seeing Violet awake and glancing in her direction, Twilight let out a small cry of surprise, and jumped up, hugging the young mare.

Violet choked a bit as she began laughing at the unicorn’s sudden exuberance. She returned Twilight’s embrace, squeezing the adorable mare. Behind her, she heard the other ponies stirring.

She heard Applejack call out, “Oh dear Celestia, is somethin’ wrong, Twilight?!”

As they ran up to the bed, they cried out in joy as they saw their young charge awake, and for all accounts, doing well.

Gathering together, they all hugged Violet tightly. Tears of joy pouring down their faces. Violet let her own tears pour down her face.

***

“The doctor says you can return home today, but you’ll need lots of rest, kiddo.” Rainbow Dash was saying to her sister, as she lay in her bed, nibbling on a sprig of parsley from the dinner tray that was sitting on her lap.

“What about my wings? I’d imagine hitting the ground would have caused some damage.” Violet said over her parsley.

She heard somepony clearing their throat, and glanced over toward the door, where an older male pony stood, holding a clipboard in his magic.

“Hello, Miss Tempest, my name is Doctor Stable. I oversaw your admission, and have been monitoring your progress. While your wings will be stiff, and nearly unusable for the next day or so, they will return to normal in no time. You merely sprained the muscles at the base of each wing, due to the sudden force that was pressed downward upon them. If you’re feeling okay, otherwise, I will be discharging you today. Is that okay with you?”

Violet simply nodded her assent.

He then turned to Rainbow Dash, “will she be staying with you, Ms. Dash?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yes, Doctor, she will be staying with me and my fiance, Applejack. She left a little while ago to get a few things ready for Violet once she gets out of here.”

Doctor Stable wrote something on his clipboard. “Very well, then,” he continued, “once I get the paperwork completed, I will send the nurse to help you be on your way.” With a smile in Violet’s direction, and a quick pat on one of her back hooves, he left the room.

Rainbow Dash glanced down at her sister, who had finished her parsley, and was staring at her empty dinner tray. She felt a twinge of something bothering her, and she realized the source of that twinge was her sister.

“Hey, kiddo,” she began softly, “are you gonna be okay?”

Violet didn’t meet Rainbow Dash’s gaze for a moment, but then she looked up and met her older sister’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess...no, not really.” She let out a sigh. “I don’t know.”

She fidgeted for a moment, looking around the room, and seeing nopony else, looked back to her sister. “Where did Twilight go?” she asked.

Dash blew a stray hair out of her face. “Oh, she went to get some coffee. She should be back in a few minutes.”

Violet nodded silently. “Do you think,” she began after a few moments, breaking the silence that had begun to linger, “that I could ask you a question?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows went up in surprise, but she just nodded. “Sure, kid, you can ask me anything. I’m your big sis. I’m going to be here for you no matter what.”

Glancing around the room quickly, and listening for hoofsteps, of which she heard none, she felt confident enough to go on speaking. “Well,” she began, “what would you think of me, if I told you that,” and at this she took a deep breath and exhaled, “I don’t want to be in the Wonderbolts?”

She shut her eyes and waited for a shocked pegasus pony to gasp in surprise. After hearing nothing for a good five seconds, she opened her eyes, and saw that Dash was still there, her face bereft of any surprise, shock, dismay, or even disappointment.

“Are you mad at me?” Violet asked, her voice just barely above a whisper.

“Mad at you? For what?” Dash asked, confusion in her voice.

“For not wanting to be in the Wonderbolts.” Violet squeaked.

“What? Mad for... mad for what? No!” Dash exclaimed, then realizing she had accidentally raised her voice and caused her little sister to cringe, she lowered her voice to a conversational level. “No, don’t be silly, Violet. Why would I be mad at you for not following my dream? I mean, yeah, I thought you wanted to be in the ‘bolts, but hey, I was wrong. Everypony is entitled to follow their dreams, ya know.”

Violet’s heart felt better already, but doubt tinged her words. “I thought I was supposed to know what I was doing. I’m just a silly filly who can’t make up her own mind.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Sweet Celestia, are you kidding?” She put her foreleg around her sister’s shoulders. “When I was your age, I wanted to be everything. Did you know I wanted to be a firepony?”

Violet shook her head.

“Yep! I wanted to be a firepony, working for the Cloudsdale Fire Service.”

“What happened?” Violet asked.

“Well, I found out something about being a firepony. That is, I don’t like fire.”

Violet giggled.

“It’s true!” Dash insisted, her eyes growing wider as she began to warm to the story. “During the practice drill, I singed my tail. When I panicked, I flew right into a tree next to the practice building, and caught the tree on fire. I was so bad at fighting fires, the volunteer service had to let me go before I had even been to my first fire!”

Violet broke out into a laugh. Rainbow Dash chuckled at the memory, running a hoof through her tail without realizing it.

“So do you feel better, kiddo?” she asked, hugging her sister.

“I sure do, Dash.” Violet said, squeezing tighter into the hug.

“Oh, my, did I miss anything?”

Violet’s eyes shot open, and her heart began racing. “Oh, no, Twilight, um, Rainbow Dash was just telling me a story about when she first came to Cloudsdale.”

Twilight entered the room, and handed a mug of coffee to Rainbow Dash, who began sipping quietly, looking back and forth between her sister and her dear friend.

“Oh, that sounds like fun. I hope I didn’t interrupt." Twilight said, with a warm smile on her face.

Violet rubbed her foreleg. “Oh, no, no. It was just a story.” She laughed nervously.

“Ah, good. I thought maybe I was intruding.”

“Of course not, Twilight! You could never intrude on anypony.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Twilight blushed.

Violet looked from her sister to Twilight and back. Apparently it was something unspoken between them, so she shrugged it off. Sometimes older adults could say confusing things.

She turned back to her tray, and wished she hadn’t already finished all of her apple juice. She looked forward to going home, and more importantly, she looked forward to a future where she didn’t have to feel trapped in one career path.

Now if only she could work on the other problem she had. One that wouldn’t be so easy to solve.

(/)*()

Wild Horses

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Wild Horses”

"Applejack, darling, if you keep fidgeting, I will be forced to use a most unlady-like method of keeping you restrained while I work, and I am loathe to do so."

"Consarn it, Rarity, Ah can't help it. Ya got me all gussied up in these... frou-frou duds. Ah look like Ah just got back from some hoity-toity, high falutin' shindig." Applejack started squirming in her newly fit clothing.

Rarity, with the gentlest touch, put a forehoof on Applejack's withers, both to calm her, and to stop her from wrinkling the fine material. "Dear, I only want you to look your best for your big day. A mare only gets to experience wedded bliss with her true love only once in the grand scheme of life, and I want you to look your very best."

Applejack could hear an undertone of hurt in her friend's voice. She sighed. "Ah'm sorry, Rarity. Ah guess Ah'm just nervous."

"Oh, it is perfectly normal to feel that way, Applejack," Rarity cooed, "this is a major event in your young life. It is to be expected."

"Ah feel like a dog about ta give birth ta a chatterin' gaggle o' geese."

Rarity raised an eyebrow as she tried to picture the metaphor. "Well, I, guess that could be one way of putting it, love. Though I hope you don't see your wedding day as being quite that...messy," she said, her voice taking on an air of distaste, as she returned her focus on the balance of Applejack's ensemble.

As she did so, Applejack began glancing about the room. She noted the cleanliness of Rarity's boutique; how everything was in perfect order; not a speck of dust could be found anywhere. Sometimes she envied that level of painstaking detail.

"Darling, could you look straight forward, and hold your head still for just a sec?"

Applejack complied, as Rarity began to adjust the orange mare's collar. "Thank you, my dear. I just... have to...," with a final adjustment, Rarity stood back and clapped her hooves together. "Done!"

Applejack let out a sigh of relief.

"Come, my dear, take a look for yourself! I think you'll find it most dashing," Rarity said, her choice of words were evident as a small smile formed at the corners of her mouth. She floated a full size mirror into position so the farm pony could see the results of her labors.

Applejack looked up as the reflection appeared in front of her. "Sweet Mother o' Celestia."

Rarity's expression took on a slight look of dismay. "You don't like it, darling?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, it ain't that at all, sugarcube. Ya done went and did good. Ya did real good."

Applejack looked at herself in the mirror, in awe of her friend's skill. Rarity had dressed her in a bespoke velvet suit; the color of which was a deep forest green. The undershirt was a beautiful sky blue. The jacket was trimmed in gold along the collar and the lapels, and on each shoulder, gold braid, which highlighted the contrasts of the brass buttons running down the front, and the gold inlay of the trim itself, and the maroon striped bow-tie completed the set. She looked downward to see her hooves shod with gold accented shoes of forest green.

"Not to be overdo the effect, my dear," Rarity's voice brought Applejack back to her surroundings, "but I felt it wouldn't be a complete ensemble, without this." She floated an object from a box behind the counter. Before Applejack could see it, she had already placed it on the orange mare's head. Looking back into the mirror, she saw a cowpony hat that looked just like the one her pappy had given her, but the color and material were just like her jacket.

"Oh, darling," Rarity whispered as she put her hooves together in front of her muzzle, "you look so handsome. I can honestly say that Prench cuffs were the right move, that's for certain."

"Do ya think Rainbow will like it?"

"Darling, while I would say that Rainbow will love it, I must admit that if I've done my job as well as I hope I have, she's not going to care one whit about the suit once she see's who is wearing it."

"Thank ya, Rares."

"You're most welcome, darling. Now please stop fidgeting for a moment, while I adjust your bow-tie."

***

"Twilight?"

"Up here, Violet."

Violet followed Twilight's voice into the kitchen. As she entered, she saw the unicorn mare sitting at the far end of the kitchen table, a book open in front of her, and a cup of coffee being held in her magic grip.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Twilight glanced up from her book. She smiled warmly. "It's no interruption, Violet. I was just brushing up on marital customs."

"You mean for Dash and Applejack's wedding?"

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "Mh-hm!"

Violet frowned. "Not to push my flank into your business, Twilight, but why are you reading a book on marital customs?"

A brief flash of surprise washed over Twilight's face before disappearing. "Oh, you didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Ah," Twilight began, wondering if she had accidentally overstepped her bounds. "I, uh, better not say for now."

Violet let the words mull around in her head for a moment. She kept her gaze on Twilight, watching the bookish pony cringe slightly, looking discomfited as she sat, coffee in magic grip, book in hoof.

Deciding that she had no reason to suspect anything sinister, Violet decided to drop it for now. Besides, she had another matter that she wanted to talk to Twilight about; something that had been gnawing at her for a while, now. It was getting to the point where she couldn't really hold it in anymore, and she wanted to find out from the source of her consternation.

She smiled in an effort to assuage Twilight's fears, and ease her discomfort. "Well, don't worry, then, Twilight, it's probably nothing important."

She noted Twilight's poorly concealed expression of relief. She gave her another moment, and then she broached the subject of which she did find to be of great importance.

"Hey, Twilight, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

Twilight smiled warmly, apparently happy to change the subject. "Certainly, Violet. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?"

"Yes, tea please, thank you," Violet replied as she took a seat at the opposite side, nearest Twilight.

She watched for a moment as Twilight gripped the decanter in her magic, and levitated it from the stove to a tea cup that was now sitting in front of Violet. As she did so, Violet organized her thoughts, and took a quiet, calming breath.

With tea poured, and empty coffee cup refreshed, Twilight's attention was now Violet. After a few seconds of silence, she felt the need to prod the young pegasus, but didn't want to make her feel rushed. Twilight knew what happened when rushed questions came pouring out unbidden. It was not a pretty sight to behold.

"Well," Violet spoke, her voice tinged with uncertainty, as if she had yet to fully gather herself, "I just want your advice on something."

Twilight nodded. From mathematics to magic, advice was her specialty. There was nothing that couldn't be found in a book somewhere. With access to her library, Twilight had her hooves on a veritable fountain of information, ready to be parsed and learned.

"I want to know what it's like to be in love."

Silence.

"Because I... may have feelings for somepony."

The silence became much longer, and was threatening to fill the whole of Equestria, when Twilight managed to collect herself long enough to respond.

"I see."

Horseapples!

Twilight quickly tossed the involuntary mental curse to the back of her mind as she focused on Violet's question. Violet's straight-out-of-the-blue question. Violet's where-in-Tartarus-did-this-come-from-and-why-do-I-have-to-be-the-pony-answering-it? question.

"Do you..." she began, "know who this pony is?"

Violet nodded. "Yeah, I know who she is."

Twilight continued. "So this pony is a she?"

Violet started. She hadn't realized she let slip the gender of the presumed mystery pony.

Twilight caught Violet's subtle reaction before she could conceal it. "I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to know that?" She said with warmth in her voice, attempting to allay Violet's fear of discovery.

"Well, I didn't want to complicate matters." Violet responded, as she began fidgeting with her hooves.

Twilight smiled. "Don't be worried, Violet. You know that anything you tell me will be completely confidential. Nopony will know anything. This will be between you and me. We are, after all, lab partners. I think we can trust one another."

Violet kept her face impassive as a cold, wet stone of trepidation fell in the pit of her stomach.

Lab partners. Like their relationship was just a working partnership, and nothing more. She took a deep breath.

"Okay," Violet responded, a smile appearing as she rallied herself to let loose some of her feelings. She took one more deep breath, and began.

"You see, Twilight," she said, "when I first came to Ponyville, I stayed with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, as you know, because I didn't have any real friends that I could relate to. There aren't many ponies my age, here, and so I generally kept to myself, sticking by Dash and AJ. To be honest, I kind of felt like a little lost puppy, what with my following Dash around everywhere she went. No offense to my sister, because I do love her dearly, but that gets really boring after a while, not to mention how frustrating it has to be for somepony like Dash, who is used to being free to do her own thing without anypony tagging along."

"You'd be surprised."

Violet halted at Twilight's comment. "What do you mean?"

Twilight smiled in response to Violet's question. "Well, let's just say that even if you weren't here, Rainbow Dash would still have a pegasus admirer keeping tabs on her hero at all times."

Violet scrunched her face in concentration for a moment. "Ah, yes," she said, relaxing her expression, "the little orange filly, Scooter something."

"Scootaloo." Twilight provided.

"That's her." Violet cleared her throat. "Anyway, so I felt that I needed to find something to do, some way to earn my keep, some way to keep myself busy. So Dash went around trying to help me find a place to work, and as you know here as well, I was turned down for the weather patrol position."

Twilight nodded.

Violet continued. "So, you know that." She cleared her throat again. "Anyway, and that's when we visited you, and you so graciously offered me a position here, as a lab assistant, something I appreciate, by the way, since I don't have a major degree in any scientific field."

"You show a lot of promise for it, Violet."

"Oh, um... thanks." She said, her face turning crimson from the quick compliment offered by Twilight. She took another deep breath. "So, anyway, you gave me this position, and I have to say it has been the best thing that has happened for me since I got here, even factoring in the whole Maelstrom of Doom thing that happened last week."

Twilight's expression was one of embarrassment. "I'm sorry about that, Violet, I..."

Violet interrupted her. "No, no. That wasn't your fault. Nopony can ever be prepared for everything, and that was something neither of us expected. I figure if you didn't expect it, nopony else would have even considered it."

It was Twilight's turn to blush. "Thank you, Violet. While I don't completely agree with your assessment of my abilities, I do appreciate your willingness to look past my mistakes."

Violet cleared her throat, finding it difficult to organize her thoughts when faced with the adorkability of a blushing Twilight.

"Yeah, well, you know, nopony's perfect." Although I think you're pretty close, Twilight Sparkle, Violet's mind offered.

Silence filled the void for a moment, before Twilight spoke up again.

"So, Violet, if you don't mind my asking, what does this have to do with this special somepony on whom you've set your sights?"

Violet looked down, and began to trace circles on the table with her forehoof. "It's, um," she spoke, so softly that it could barely be heard above a whisper, "there's a pony who has made me feel so special, so needed, that I realized that I wanted them to feel special, and to feel needed." She looked up at Twilight, but said nothing.

Twilight nodded. "You can tell me, Violet. I won't tell anypony."

Violet took another deep breath, and quelled the movement of her hoof.

"I like you, Twilight."

Twilight's eyes went wide, and her jaw went slack. She quickly pulled herself together long enough to get out a question. "What did you say, Violet?"

Violet took another deep breath. "I like you, Twilight. I think you're the most beautiful mare I've ever seen." Her thoughts rushed forth, neither her mind or her muzzle able to stop the words from gushing out. "Not only the most beautiful mare, but the smartest mare I've ever known. You're funny, you're brilliant, you're kind, you're sweet, you have a compassionate soul, Twilight, and to top it all off, you're the most skillful adept I have ever met, and likely will ever meet. You are unparalleled on every conceivable level. There is no boundary to the majesty and might of your magic, nor a block or boundary to your knowledge. You are Dulcinea, the unattainable, the blessed image, the vaunted icon, the eternally desired."

Twilight's eyes returned to their wide state, and her jaw decided to give in to gravity once more.

Violet, for her part, had managed to stem the flow of her heart, and was now turning an amazing shade of red, one that would rival the prettiest prize apple in her soon to be sister-in-law's orchard.

Twilight's mind went on autopilot. "I see you've read the story of Don Coyote," she said absent-mindedly, her eyes staring blankly forward.

Violet continued to sit quietly, her mind spent. Now she waited for Twilight's reaction, and hopefully, her acceptance of Violet's outpouring of emotion. Her stomach was a bevy of butterflies, all vying for her attention. She ignored them as best as she could.

"That's..." Twilight began, and then paused.

Violet's butterflies flapped harder against her stomach. She watched as Twilight made a move to speak again.

"That's very sweet, Violet..."

Uh-oh.

Twilight took a deep breath, bringing her foreleg in toward her chest, and then exhaled, pushing it away from her, as if sweeping aside any stress that may have found itself in her path. She finished her sentence.

"...but, sweetheart..."

Nononononononononono...

I'm in a relationship, remember?"

Crash. Violet felt her heart crumble into pieces, right atop her stomach, which was torn open as the fluttering butterflies escaped, viciously taunting her as they sailed haphazardly toward the kitchen window, and the promise of emotionless, ponyless freedom. She was certain, as they fled, that one of them farted in her general direction, though she couldn't be sure.

She stared down at the table, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. The urge to bolt was growing strong, but she didn't want to run. Embarrassed? Yes. Humiliated, in fact. Regardless, she wasn't one to run away from a problem, especially one that she had a hoof in creating. So there she sat, waiting for Twilight to emotionally pummel her heart into a pretty red dust.

Twilight looked at Violet, and felt for the poor young mare. Young love was always the most confusing feeling, especially if it had the unfathomable problem of involving herself in its affections. She knew she had to help Violet come to terms with this, lest she contribute to not only a painfully uncomfortable working relationship, but quite possibly the disillusionment of a very intelligent young mare, and who knows what Princess Celestia might say about that, even if it wasn't Twilight's fault. Well, she certainly wasn't going to risk that happening.

"Violet," she said, her voice firm, "look at me."

A moment passed, but Violet did bring herself to face Twilight.

"Good. I want you to know a few things; firstly, don't feel embarrassed. I think it's sweet that you've found something in me that you like so much that you had to express it."

Stab-stab-stab-twist. I don't need that heart.

"Secondly, I must admit that you are very attractive, and have many fine qualities one would look for in a mate."

Stab-sta-what?

Violet echoed her internal masochist's sentiments. "What?"

Twilight continued. "That's what I said. You are very attractive, and have many fine qualities one would look for in a mate."

This was unexpected. "Go on."

"Well, you are intelligent, you're quick-witted, you're capable, and are a fast learner. You have an attractive physical appearance, and a youthful exuberance that one doesn't find in many ponies these days," she said, smiling. "Pinkie aside, of course," She added.

Violet didn't know what to say to that.

"The thing is, Violet," Twilight continued, "that I am with Luna. I love her dearly, and she is my soulmate. You know I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, or make you feel embarrassed, but I feel that telling you like this, one adult mare to another, is the best way for you to see that it's not your or your qualities that push me away. It's that I have found my special somepony."

She paused a moment, and then said quietly, "Do you still want to know about what it's like to fall in love?"

Violet just nodded gently, her mind still hazy.

"I'll tell you." Twilight confirmed. "Being in love is like finding the best friend you never knew you had, and for whom you never knew you were searching. It's like the warmest sun that blankets you, even on a cloudy day. That pony completes you and complements you in every way. Their smile, their laughter, even their tears bring out the most powerful feelings inside of you. They bring the best from you. You are so overcome with that feeling, that you must share it with the rest of the world, and when that pony is not around, your heart aches, and when they return, your heart is overjoyed. You wonder how you ever lived without them, and you pray that you will never have to know that old feeling again. That, my dear, is what it feels like to be in love."

A silence lingered between the two of them for a moment, as Violet took in what her mentor had told her. She looked at Twilight, whose expression was the very definition of serenity. Violet looked down at her hooves, lost in her thoughts, and contemplating all that she had learned in this embarrassing, if informative, lesson on love and relationships.

"Twilight?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly. "Do you think somepony will ever love me like that?"

Twilight smiled at her question. It spoke so favorably of the young mare. "Violet," she said, "I bet you that right now, there is a pony out there just waiting to see you from across the room, and realize that there's something special in you that they haven't found in anypony else."

"You really believe that?"

"Violet, I have learned that not only is anything possible when friendship is involved, but that in this town, surprises can happen around any corner at any time, and they're not always of the pink and poofy maned confetti cannon variety."

Violet couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image that produced. She looked back to Twilight. "Um, Twilight? This might sound silly, but, would you mind if I..."

Twilight smiled warmly, knowing what the mare wanted to ask. "Yeah, go ahead. You can give me a hug."

Violet smiled, and with slight trepidation, maneuvered over to Twilight, and squeezed her in a tight embrace, warmth coursing through her when the unicorn returned that embrace. She smiled when she heard Twilight's next words.

No matter what, we're still lab partners, and as far as I'm concerned, lab partners can give each other hugs any time they want. In the name of science, of course."

(/)*()

The Rays of the Summer Sun Do Sparkle

CHAPTER NINE

"The Rays of the Summer Sun Do Sparkle"

Several Days Later

Somepony was knocking on the door. The sound it made was slow, and deliberate. It was also quite loud, though from the reaction of the cyan pegasus mare laying underneath a small mountain of covers, one would have never guessed such a thing at all. Fortunately, the mare lying next to her was quite aware of the intrusion upon the morning stillness, shown by her alacrity in scrambling out of bed, and ambling down the stairs.

The percussive knock was almost painful at this proximity, but Applejack pushed the minor inconvenience aside and reached for the door handle, pulling it open to meet their oblivious tormentor muzzle to muzzle.

The tormentor's, or tormentors, muzzle(s) were a light red, and bright green, respectively. Applejack noted, in the slight blur of her vision, that the height difference between the two muzzles was quite noticeable, and that the taller, thicker muzzle was also the owner of the knock in question. She knew this because of the large forehoof that had just placed itself firmly against the creaking wood of the porch.

"Well, Ah'll be tarred, feathered, and plucked!" The exclamation from Applejack received an appropriate response from the larger red muzzle.

"Eeyup."

"Big Macintosh, Granny Smith! You're here! Well, Ah mean, o' course you're here! Where else wouldja be?! Well, Ah mean, ya would be in Coltorado, but you're all here now!" Applejack stopped the fumbling of her words, took a breath, and spoke again. "Where are mah manners? Y'all come on inside!"

She opened the door, letting Big Mac and Granny Smith step into their former home. Applejack wasted no time in grabbing Big Mac by his strong shoulders and pulling him into a hug. Before he could react, she let go and, with a touch of gingerness, pulled Granny Smith into a hug. The old mare just smiled and patted her on her withers.

"Okay, young'un, ya can let go, now. Ah may not need much air, but Ah still need it!" She said with a chuckle, as Applejack pulled back, a warm smile on her face.

Applejack motioned over toward an old rocking chair, and their well worn couch, inviting them to sit. "Did ya all just get in town this mornin'?"

Big Mac nodded as he eased himself onto the couch. "Eeyup."

Granny Smith plopped down in her rocking chair, "That's more like it. Ah missed this old chair. Ah may have ta take it back with me if'n ya don't mind, Applejack."

Applejack smiled. "O' course not, Granny, it's all yours. We was just keepin' it warm for ya."

Granny Smith nodded. "Speakin' of 'we', where is ol' Rainbow Doze anyways?"

"It's Rainbow Dash, Granny."

"Ah know what I said."

"Oh, yeah, well, uh, she's still in the bed-"

"Ha!"

"-right now, but Ah can get her up, if'n ya want ta talk to her."

"Ah do. Ah got something I need ta talk to the both of ya about, and it can't wait until it's too late."

Applejack response was only to raise an eyebrow at this, but soon she was heading up the steps to wake up her fiance.

***

"A summons? That doesn't sound very good. I hope nothing bad has happened with the Princess," Violet said, a note of concern in her voice.

Twilight handed her reply scroll to Spike, who dutifully sent it with a breath of flame, and proceeded to resume gobbling down his sugar gems.

The three of them, Violet, Twilight, and Spike, were sitting at the kitchen table, having breakfast. The stresses and revelations of yesterday evening had become nothing but a memory, one that was easily disregarded in light of the new day.

"I informed her we would leave within the hour, and I wouldn't worry, Violet," Twilight said, before taking another bite of her strawberry creme doughnut. She chewed for a moment before continuing. "I receive these from time to time, usually as a result of some routine fact checking assignment that the Princess would rather deliver in person. Most of the time it involves some dignitary pony who wants firsthoof information from me personally, and while she doesn't do it often, the Princess does grant such requests if she deems it worth my time. So who knows? It could be an interesting experience. Anything that has the potential to impart new knowledge is always worth exploring."

Violet let a smirk form on her face. "You're such a nerd, Twilight."

"You're telling me," their dragon companion said around a large powdered sugar emerald. "She reads Playcolt for the articles."

"Spike!" Twilight choked, her face turning beet red, pieces of doughnut falling to the table.

Violet giggled as she watched Twilight use her magic to hurl the half eaten doughnut at Spike's head. The dragon ducked at the last possible second, sticking his tongue out at his assailant, only to feel the squishy texture of pastry coat the back of his head.

"Ha!" the purple unicorn called out in triumph, as Spike tried, and failed, to reach back far enough to remove the smashed baked good from his scales.

"Oh, great, it's going to be all sticky, now, Twilight, and I have to help Rarity with a dress delivery today! I can't go with pieces of doughnut on my head! The birds will attack me again!" he called out as he ran for the bathroom.

"The birds will what?" Violet asked Twilight, who had just finished gulping down a glass of water to clear her throat.

"Oh," she began, setting the empty cup aside, "Spike and Pinkie Pie got in a doughnut fight about six weeks ago. Pinkie is using this new batter that makes donuts stay moist longer, in such a way that a pony can eat them throughout the day, or store them out in the open, without their becoming stale."

"So why did birds attack him while they were having the fight?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly like that, and they weren't exactly birds in the general sense." Twilight said. "You see, Pinkie Pie got him right on the tail, and apparently, some of the sticky residue remained. As you know by now, the scent of Pinkie's baked goods can attract all kinds of animals. Spike, being himself, didn't pay much attention to making certain he was thoroughly clean. It didn't help that it had been an unusually warm afternoon, the warmest over the course of several days, and it reached the point where even I could detect the strong scent of pastries emanating from Spike. I told him as much, and he dismissed it. Spike can smell gems from a kilometer away, but he seems to have some trouble with baked goods.

So as we were walking home, the scent of the doughnuts attracted a flock of geese that had been passing overhead. Next thing you know, Spike was covered in geese. It took three applications of my repel magic to shoo them away. I found out that geese rarely listen to reason in cases involving Pinkie Pie pastry crumbs."

She gave a lopsided grin as Violet began giggling. As she dusted the crumbs from her hooves, she heard the telltale sound of a chariot pulling up outside the door. She waited a few more moments for Violet to calm down from her fit of laughter, and patted her gently on the shoulder.

"We better get going," she said, her words punctuated a moment later by the sound of knocking on the library door.

***

"Hey, Granny Smith! Good to see you're still up and kicking!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack hissed.

"What?"

"Ya gotta respect yer elders!"

"Oh, ain't no worryin' about it, Applejack. Eh, hello, there Rainbow Dash, good ta see ya! Are ya up fer all day, or just fer now?" The old mare retorted. Her voice was full of biting sarcasm, but her eyes were twinkling with unrestrained mirth as she said them.

Rainbow leaned in and gave the old mare a hug. As she backed away, she waved to Big Mac. "Heya, Big Mac. Things going alright for you and Granny?"

"Eeyup."

"That's cool. So, Granny, you got me and AJ standing here, what did you want?"

Applejack rolled her eyes at Dash's way of getting to the point. I mean, she was the same way, but not to her elders.

"Well, young'uns, while Applejack was upstairs a-draggin' ya out of bed, Ah had Big Mac bring in the suitcases. I also had 'im grab this here old box, and I was wantin' ta give it to the two of ya."

She handed the box over to Rainbow Dash, her hoof shaking just a bit as she did. Dash took it gingerly, as not to excite the old mare, who probably didn't need an awesome faster-than-lightning pegasus just snatching things from her old, trembly hooves.

Once she had it in hoof, she began looking it over. It looked like an old wooden box, about 10 centimeters long, and 5 centimeters wide. As she flipped it over, she saw that there was a carving on the bottom of the box that read, 'JA ♥ DG Always and Forever'.

"This is pretty cool, Granny Smith, but, um, what are we supposed to do with a box?"

Granny Smith bopped Rainbow Dash on the head with a cane. "That ain't just a box, ya nitwit!" she said.

"Ouch! You didn't have to smack me in the head, Granny!" Dash called out, rubbing her head with one hoof.

"Oh, honeychild, don't get all upset. I do it out of love."

"Yeah? Well love me a little less, will ya?" the pegasus retorted.

Applejack sighed. "Let me see that box, sugarcube."

Rainbow Dash offered the box to Applejack, who took it in her own hooves and examined it carefully. The box had a very thin band of silver around the middle.

Wait a minute, this wasn't just some box.

Granny Smith saw the light dawning on her grandchild's face. "That's right, honey."

A trembling that decided to shake her up and down her entire body decided to focus on her hooves, so it was with great care that Applejack, sitting on her haunches, pulled the two halves of the box apart. In her left hood was the bottom half of the box, in which there contained two golden hoof bands, something that a married couple would wear to show their commitment to one another. The golden bands were simple affairs, lacking any ornate design, or precious gems, but they still shone like the morning sun when the light hit them.

She began breathing heavier as she turned the lid over to look at the underside. It took her a moment to register, but then the feelings came rushing forward as she stared at the photograph; a handsome light brown stallion, in a cowpony hat, was standing next to a beautiful deep red mare, her blond mane tied up into a ponytail. The stallion had his left forehoof around the mare's right forehoof, their heads together, and smiling.

"P-Pa. Ma." Applejack looked into the box at the two hoof bands laying there in repose. "These were their weddin' bands?"

"That's right, young'un," Granny Smith said, her tone subdued, "these were your Pa and Ma's hoof bracelets, and I want you ta have 'em."

Applejack touched one of the gold bands, the contact with her hoof causing a slight ring to emanate from it.

"Granny, we can't take these. Ah mean, these were, these are somethin' too special-"

Granny Smith cut her off. "Now ya listen here, young'un, and ya listen good. Yer Ma and Pa were good folk. They didn't do nothin' ta nobody that ever caused anypony any harm. They lived by their wits, and their hard work. All they wanted was ta make a family, and have somethin' they could be proud of, and Ah can tell ya right now, darlin', that they'd be mighty proud of ya both. I ain't havin' no argument about it, yer gonna take these here weddin' bands, and yer gonna wear 'em, and yer gonna make the whole Apple family proud." She tapped her cane on the wooden floor for emphasis.

There was silence for a number of heartbeats, and then Applejack heard a brash, colt-ish voice weigh in. "I don't know about you, AJ, but that sounded like a challenge."

Without looking at her fiance, Applejack reached down and touched the golden bands once more, as if drawing strength from them. A small smile began to form on her lips, as she looked up at Granny Smith, sporting an expression of defiance.

"'Zat what this is, Granny? Is this a challenge?"

"Yer darn tootin' it is."

Applejack glanced at Dash, who was smiling at her. She knew that look in her marefriend's eyes. She had seen it every time they raced, every time they wrestled, every time someone told either of them they couldn't have something, or worse, that they couldn't win something. She turned back to the old, green mare rocking back and forth in her chair.

"Challenge accepted."

***

"Princess!"

"Twilight, it's good to see you again. Your visits have become much too few and far between."

"Well, you know how it is with my studies." Twilight said as she trotted up to Princess Celestia, and outstretched her neck, which the Princess nuzzled warmly.

"I understand quite well, my faithful student." she said gently, low enough that only Twilight could hear. "Of course, there's somepony else who might not be quite as understanding if you don't visit her before you leave today."

They stepped away from one another, the Princess giving a blushing Twilight a knowing wink. She looked up to the other visitor standing in the giant throne room. "Hello, Violet. I don't believe we've had the opportunity to meet."

Violet was awestruck. She was standing in the throne room of the Princess of the Sun, and the Princess had just spoken to her like they were equals.

"Princess Celestia, I am at your service." Violet said as she bowed low before the Di-arch.

"Oh, don't do that, please. I get enough of that from my other subjects."

It took a moment to register with Violet that the Princess had just told her to stop bowing to one of the most powerful authorities in all of Equestria, which was slightly distressing, considering it also came from one of the most powerful authorities in all of Equestria. Slowly, with uncertainty, she stood from her bow, not knowing what to do next.

Princess Celestia smiled.

Twilight Sparkle giggled.

Violet Tempest continued standing, rubbing a forehoof and looking around the throne room casually. It was quite massive. Oh, hey, purple drapes. That's... interesting.

Finally, after another moment of awkward social silence, Princess Celestia cleared her throat. "Now," she began, "let me explain to you just why I brought the both of you here."

She called out for a messenger.

"Please bring Doctor Von Bridle at once."

The messenger saluted, and then raced off to fulfill the command.

"Twilight, I have been reading your reports with great interest. It pleases me to see you have resolved the Everfree Forest anomaly."

"Thank you, Princess."

"You're quite welcome, my dear. Now, I notice that you didn't solve this particular problem on your own, but that you did, in fact, have some significant assistance from our young friend here, Miss Violet Tempest."

"That is correct, Princess. Violet was instrumental in helping me formulate the magical equation used to detect upper tropospheric anomalies. I'd also like to add that she willingly put her own safety at risk to carry out our experiments, including the field experiment that nearly cost her to lose her life."

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow as she looked at Violet, who was blushing, and absent-mindedly tracing circles on the alabaster tile floor with a forehoof.

"Is this true, young Violet?" asked the Princess.

Violet, who was already withering under the Princess' gaze, simply eeked out a 'yes'.

"Which is why she's the perfect choice." A strong, masculine voice cut through the throne room. Everypony turned to see a chestnut brown unicorn stallion, with a white mane and tale, walking into the room, wearing a labcoat, and googles around his neck.

"Ah, Doctor Von Bridle, I'm glad you were able to step away from your work long enough to join us." said the Princess, who seemed oblivious to the prospect where a subject might casually tell their godlike ruler 'no', when asked to perform a task at her convenience.

"It is a pleasure, your highness, and hello Twilight," the doctor said as he shook her hoof. "it is a pleasure to see you again. We missed you in Meteorological Sciences."

"Twilight used to work in the Royal Climatological Sciences Department?" a shocked Violet asked the scientist.

He chuckled and turned to Violet. "Oh my, no. Twilight here was still a filly when I worked in that department. However, she used to stop by every day to watch our progress on various studies, and would offer her own advice on how to properly get things done, and my goodness, the lecture you would get if you didn't do it 'right'."

"Still, it isn't the reason why I am here and, more importantly, it isn't the reason why you're here."

He gave a wordless glance at the Princess, who nodded. Von Bridle turned back to Violet, and indicated the door with a foreleg. "Would you please take a walk with me, Violet?"

With a quick look to Twilight, who said nothing, Violet turned and followed the scientist into the hall.

***

Over the course of an hour, Dr. Von Bridle gave Violet a tour of the Royal Sciences wing of the castle. He showed her the Life Sciences Research department, the Astronomical Sciences complex, the Agricultural Concepts division, and now they were standing in front of the entrance to the Meteorological & Climatological Research center. Violet took a minute to watch the activity going on in the research area, filled with busy scientists moving about in their tasks; some examining test tubes, others writing data on work pads. Some were standing in front of large machines with spinning reels, and they were reading results from a ticker tape printout that would periodically appear from a slot in the front of each machine.

"Violet," said the white maned unicorn, "this is the laboratory where I started my apprenticeship more than 30 years ago. In those 30 years, I have seen amazing, wondrous things. I have witnessed phenomena that has turned the world of science on its proverbial ears; I have taken part in experiments that have put me in harm's way countless times, but not once have I ever considered any other field of research. It can be dangerous, but it is such a rewarding kind of danger. It takes devotion, study, skill, and a lifetime in which one can make better that which is known, and to uncover that which is unknown. It is also why I want to offer you an opportunity to attend the Royal Academy of Sciences as an apprentice."

Violet's attention was now firmly on the good doctor. "I'm sorry, Dr. Von Bridle, but could you repeat that?"

The scientist smiled as he repeated himself. "I would like you to attend the Royal Academy of Sciences, as an apprentice. As my apprentice, to be exact."

Thoughts flooded Violet's mind. Had it been less than two weeks since she had started working for Twilight as her 'lab assistant'? Is this what she wanted to do? I mean, it was a fantastic opportunity, but how many pegasi actually succeeded as a scientist in what was, predominantly, a unicorn's career path? She asked the doctor this question.

"Dr. Von Bridle, as I'm sure you're well aware, I'm a pegasus. When I worked with Twilight, she still did most of the work. Her magic operated the machines, and experimented with the various chemicals we used to come up with a solution. I'm not certain I could keep up with all of these unicorn scientists. No offense."

The doctor chuckled a bit to himself. "Oh, that's nothing to worry about, my dear. There's more to the meteorological sciences than machine work, and test tubes. Follow me."

Von Bridle took her through the research area, and down a corridor off to the side of the room. As she was walking behind the good doctor, Violet could have sworn she heard thunder, but that was ridiculous to hear it when the nearest outside wall was hundreds of meters away. After two minutes of walking in companionable silence, they stopped in front of a door that read 'Atmospheric Stabilization Testing'. Opening the door, Von Bridle moved to the side to let Violet see inside.

What she saw astounded her. The room was massive! The ceiling alone looked to be about 4 stories high. There were about 50 meters between where she was standing, and the far wall, and the room appeared to be roughly 25 meters in width.

"We reused the old castle gymnasium as a field testing facility for atmospheric research," he explained. "We needed a place where alpha testing could be performed in the relative safety of a secure location, without the chance of the experiment making its way into the domain of the unsuspecting public. As you can see," he said, waving toward a dark bank of clouds near the ceiling, in the center of the room, "this is where we make it all work."

"Doctor," Violet asked, "doesn't Cloudsdale's Weather Factory create clouds to be deployed over this region of Equestria?"

Dr. Von Bridle nodded. "Indeed they do, my dear, however, it is the Royal Academy that conceives of the various working formulas that the weather factory uses when creating new cloud forms. We depend upon one another to bring shade when the sun is fierce, rain when the crops are dry. We work together."

Violet took in all that she had witnessed. Dr. Von Bridle was certain she was a good candidate for apprenticeship, and she couldn't lie, being a part of something this awesome was just too fascinating to pass up.

"I'll do it."

"Pardon me, my dear?"

"I'll do it, Dr. Von Bridle. I would love to be your apprentice, if you'll have me."

"Wonderful, my dear! I believe we shall now let Princess Celestia, and young Twilight hear the good news!"

He closed the door to the testing facility, and they made their way back to the throne room.

***

As they approached the throne room, Princess Celestia met them outside the entrance. "Well, Doctor," the Princess said, "have you completed the grand tour of our research facilities?"

Dr. Von Bridle nodded, "Indeed I have, your Highness. Violet?"

Violet smiled as she looked up to the Princess. "I have accepted an apprenticeship into the Royal Sciences Academy, your Highness. I will be apprenticed under Dr. Von Bridle."

Princess Celestia smiled at the young pony's enthusiasm. "That is wonderful. I promise you that you will never find a better mentor than Dr. Von Bridle. He has served Equestria very well these many years."

The elderly scientist blushed, "Eh, I, thank you, your Highness. I shall do my best. I, eh, should return to my work. It was a pleasure Violet, Princess."

The two mares giggled at his rapid onset of modesty, followed by his rapid departure, lab coat flowing behind him as he made a beeline down the corridor.

The Princess turned to Violet. "He was never one for praise. Sometimes I laud him openly, just to see him turn that interesting shade of red. Though I will say those compliments are always true, and you, my little pony, have a bright future ahead of you."

She turned to walk away. "Now, I have some work in my office to attend to, but you will be contacted when all is ready. Until then, keep working with Twilight. She is an invaluable resource."

"Oh, I agree, your Majesty."

"'Celestia' will be fine, Violet."

"Oh no, your Majesty, I could never call you by your first name."

Celestia smiled. "Perhaps in time. Meanwhile, if you wish to see Twilight, she is in throne room with Princess Luna."

With that, the Di-arch walked away from Violet, a phalanx of guards behind the Princess.

Violet turned toward the door, and walked into the throne room. As she looked up, she froze in place. There, in front of her, was Twilight and the Princess of the Night, sharing what appeared to be a very passionate kiss.

Slowly, Violet backed up, trying to exit the room without being seen. Unfortunately for her, she didn't noticed the large porcelain vase next to the door entrance, and bumped into the unseen obstacle. A second later, a loud shatter filled the room, and suddenly all attention was on her.

"Violet!" called out Twilight in surprise.

"WHAT DOES THOU WANT, CHILD? YOUR PRINCESS IS ENGAGING IN A ROMANTIC ENDEAVOR WITH HER SIGNIFICANT OTHER, AND THOU ART POTENTIALLY WRECKING THE MOOD!" came Princess Luna's voice.

Violet waved her hoof and grinned a toothy smile, her face blushing hard. "Hey, everypony! So... have you heard the news?"

(/)*()

Love's Flower Don't Bloom For Jus' Anypony

CHAPTER TEN

"Love’s Flower Don’t Bloom For Jus’ Anypony"

"One Week Later"

It was a beautiful day, like any other day under Celestia's Sun, but this day marked one significant difference. There was no difference in the gentle blowing of the warm wind, neither was there any difference in the azure clarity of the skies; nor was there a difference in the warm grasses that crunched softly underhoof; Even still, there was no difference in the lush, green trees, swaying gently back and forth in the breeze. In these things, there was no change from the usual display of nature's bountiful glory.

The deviation from every other day in Ponyville was to be found in a clearing; one near the northwest orchard of Sweet Apple Acres, and one that was bustling with activity; a frenzy of ponies moving about preparing for that day, that shining moment, when two ponies joined together in matrimony, to share the rest of their lives with one another, and their dearest friends, and today was that day.

This was a simple affair, because the two ponies who would be joined this day preferred things to be simple, much to the chagrin of a certain white unicorn mare. Still, it was their day, and so she went along with it willingly, for she was the element of generosity, and would be happy for her friends, regardless.

"Applejack, quit fidgeting, dear. I'm almost finished."

A sigh. "Sorry, Rarity. Ah guess I'm just nervous an' all."

They were inside a small tent placed not far away from where the wedding ceremony would be held, near a grove of apple trees.

"There we are, my dear, now stand back and let me look at you."

Applejack backed away, and let Rarity examine her work. "Darling, you look magnificent, even better than when we were in my boutique, if that is even possible. Oh, Rarity, you are amazing."

Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend's self congratulatory remarks. Still, she did feel like a million bits, and she had Rarity to thank for it.

"Ah really appreciate it, Rarity. Ah would appreciate it more if Ah could get these here butterflies out o' mah belly."

Rarity stepped forward and gave her friend a warm nuzzle. "You have nothing to worry about, dear, you make a handsome mare. I've no doubt once you see your beloved in her ensemble, you will forget all about the butterflies."

"Ah hope so, Ah just don't want ta make a fool outta mahself in front o' Celestia and everypony."

***

"You look so pretty, Rainbow Dash." A soft voice could be heard saying, as Rainbow Dash turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

"You know, I do, don't I?" Rainbow Dash said as she nodded at her reflection. "I look awesome in this dress."

"I still can't believe you chose a dress over a wedding suit. It's quite the romantic gesture, if you don't mind my saying so," Fluttershy said as she admired the white lace around Dash's wings.

"Hey, I can be romantic! Besides, I know Applejack's all about old fashioned traditions and stuff, and I want her to be more comfortable. Plus, I look so hot in this. I'm going to knock the hat right off her head with how awesomely hot I look."

"I've no doubt." a new voice said.

Fluttershy eeped as Rainbow Dash turned around and saw her mother standing in the entrance way to her tent that was situated on the opposite side of the clearing, near a grove of apple trees.

"Mom!" Rainbow Dash yelled out in surprise, running to her mother and embracing her. "You were able to make it! I thought you and Dad weren't able to leave Baltimare in time!"

"Oh honey, I wouldn't miss this for the world. My baby girl is going to be married. Oh, I can't wait for grandchildren."

"Um... Mom?"

"Oh yes, of course. Well, we'll worry about that later. In the meantime, look at you! You're so beautiful! My dear, when Applejack sees you she's going to spit!"

"Well, that's nothing new. She does that anyway." Rainbow Dash deadpanned.

Mother and daughter giggled.

"Oh, my sweet baby! Look at you!"

Rainbow Dash turned to the new voice. "Daddy!"

"Sweetheart, you're breathtaking!" Dusk Thunder said, his eyes wide. "You don't look like my daughter, you look like a full grown mare! What did you do with my daughter?"

Rainbow Dash laughed as she grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "Mom, Dad, I'm so glad you made it."

Dusk Thunder held his daughter close. "My sweet little girl, your Mommy and Daddy wouldn't have missed this for the world."

"Wow, Rainbow, you look great!" a fourth pony had joined them. "Mom, you look lovely as always, and hey, nice suit, Dad! Love the way you're rocking the plaid."

Everypony turned to see Violet make her way into the tent. Dusk Thunder broke out into a grin. "There's our scientist!" he said, as he pulled her into a hug as well. Violet's surprise lasted only for a moment. She realized that nothing mattered beyond the fact that the four of them were whole, as one family, enjoying the moment together.

Fluttershy quietly stayed off to the side as not to intrude.

"Flutters! What are you doing over there? Get over here and join in on the hug!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, no, I don't wish to intrude. I mean, you're all so cute together, and I don't really want to-"

The family shuffled over, as one group, and pulled the shy pegasus into the fold.

"Oh my! Well, I..." and she paused for a moment before saying, "this is nice."

***

Twilight Sparkle stood under the archway, where she would be joining two of her dearest friends together in matrimony. She looked out at the gathering of ponies sitting in their white wooden chairs, arranged on either side of the aisle.

"Are you okay, Applejack?" she whispered to the orange mare now standing in front of her, and to her left. To say she looked nervous would have been a gross understatement. Applejack was shaking so hard, that it looked like she was about to set off the seismometers in the Canterlot Geology lab.

Applejack just nodded as if this were her normal state of mind every day. "Oh, sure, Twi," she whispered back, "Ah'm just a touch nervous, is all."

Twilight smiled. "No need to worry, AJ. You'll do fine."

"Well, ya know, it's not everyday ya get ta marry the mare o' yer dreams."

"That's true," Twilight conceded amiably, "but on the plus side, you only have to marry her once."

Before Applejack could respond, they heard the singing voices of Fluttershy's bird chorus start whistling the wedding march. A few moments later, the flower girls, better known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, began traipsing down the aisle, throwing flower petals everywhere, with some even landing along the aisleway where they belonged. They were all smiles, save for Scootaloo, who had the largest grin anypony had ever seen on a filly's muzzle, though it was barely outshining Applebloom's grin as she winked at her sister standing at the altar. Sweetie Belle had a simple, joyful smile on her face, as if she were humming a tune that only she could hear.

Following the three fillies was Violet Tempest, escorting a bashful and blushing Fluttershy, who was wearing a lovely teal dress, a white and blue butterfly pin in her hair. They moved down the aisle, smiles on their faces as they reached the altar and took their places on each side, respectively. Applejack glanced over to see Violet step into her place as the Best Mare, who looked up to her soon to be sister-in-law, and wiggled her eyebrows, in a 'just you wait and see' expression.

Next to step out was Rarity, in a shimmering yellow gown, violet accents in her mane, and being escorted down the aisle by a tuxedo-ed Spike. Pinkie Pie hopped down the aisle last, wearing a pink dress, a decorative cupcake design in her mane, as she was escorted by Caramel, wearing a dusk blue checked suit. Each pony took their place near the altar, each one giving Applejack either a smile or a nod, save for Pinkie, who gave Applejack both a smile, a nod, and a "hooves up."

Applejack smiled in return to each of them and, with bated breath, turned back to watch for her bride-to-be.

It wasn't long. A moment later, the whole gathering gasped in surprise, as Rainbow Dash walked out into the aisle, her father next her. The butterflies in her stomach were evicted with extreme prejudice.

Applejack took in the sight of Rainbow Dash walking slowly down the aisle. Never did Rainbow Dash ever do anything with the word 'slow' in it. What was more heart stopping, however, was that Dash wore an all white wedding dress, in the traditional style. Her wings covered in lace, and on her head sat a flowered wreath, a shimmering white veil coming down from it to obscure the fine details of Rainbow's face.

Applejack watched as Dash's father brought her up next to the altar, giving her a peck on the cheek as he stepped away, and took his place next to his wife, seated in the front row, a tissue in her hoof, dabbing her eyes.

***

Rainbow Dash couldn't look away from her best friend. She barely registered the light peck on the cheek from her father, so enraptured as she was staring at the orange mare, who was dressed such a fine suit, that so perfectly blended with her natural fur color. It was difficult to make out some of the details, as the veil made it a bit difficult, but she most certainly saw those luminous green eyes of her marefriend, and she could not tear herself away from them.

It took her friend Twilight to bring her attention elsewhere.

"Friends, and honored guests," she began, giving a nod to the Princesses, Celestia, and Luna, who were seated on the far side of the aisleway; as not to obscure the vision of the other guests, "today we have gathered here, in this beautiful countryside, to join together these two ponies, Applejack Apple, and Rainbow Dash, in matrimony. It is their love that binds them, and it is their friendship that surrounds them. More powerful than the greatest magic, containing greater depths than the seas, and higher than the highest mountain peaks, their unity transcends all things, both great and small, and even so, shall it endure until the end of their days, and beyond."

She looked directly at the two ponies standing in front of her at the altar.

"The bracelets, please?" She asked quietly.

Both Violet and Fluttershy stepped forward, giving each friend their wedding bracelet. After a moment, they returned to their positions off to the side, as Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, both held their respective bracelets.

"I ask that you turn to one another, please," Twilight continued, and waited, as Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned to face one another. As if by a small intercession of divine intervention, the breeze stopped blowing, the birds stopped chirping, the leaves no longer rustling. All was quiet, even the slightest whisper silenced.

"Applejack, please repeat after me:

"I, Applejack,..."

"Ah, Applejack."

"Take you, Rainbow Dash,..."

"Take you, Rainbow Dash."

"As my beloved mare."

"As mah beloved m-mare."

A slight tittering was momentarily heard in the audience as the full impact of what Applejack was saying decided to fall upon her at that moment.

"I swear now, before Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna,..."

"Ah swear now, before Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna."

"That I will love, honor, and cherish my beloved mare,..."

"Yer darn tootin' I will!"

More laughter as Applejack looked at Twilight.

Twilight smiled. "That I will stay by her side in sickness, and health,.."

"That Ah will stay by her side, in sickness an' in health."

"As long as we both shall live."

"As long as we both'll live."

Twilight smiled again as her friend breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to the cyan pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash? Will you promise to do all of the stuff I just told Applejack?"

Chuckles and peals of laughter rang through the crowd gathered.

Rainbow Dash smiled, and nodded. "You betcha. I'm not letting her get away from me for nothing, and I know she won't because I'm way faster than her."

"Ain't so!"

"Is so!"

"Ain't so!"

"Totally is so!"

"Girls!" Twilight interrupted as the crowd's laughter quieted down. "Applejack, please place your bracelet on Rainbow Dash's hoof, and Rainbow Dash, please place your bracelet on Applejack's hoof." She waited a moment as the couple did as requested.

"By the power vested in me, in the nation of Equestria, and dually appointed by the Princesses Celestia, Daughter of the Sun, and Luna, Daughter of the Moon, I now pronounce you as one. You may kiss one another."

Cheers erupted from the gathering as Applejack raised Rainbow's veil, and kissed her on the muzzle. Rainbow Dash pulled Applejack into a tight, passionate kiss, as Fluttershy reached over to cover the eyes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were trying to get around the foreleg to see what was causing the audience to hurl catcalls at the couple.

A moment later, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, now married, bonded together not only in friendship, but now a deep, abiding love, walked down the aisle, side by side, as one, looking forward to forever together.

The End.

(/)*()

Author's Note

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I want to thank all of you for reading "Orange and Blue, I Do." I realize it seems like a short chapter, but I wanted to save the wedding for very last, so I cleared out the other story lines in previous chapters before this one. I wanted this to be for Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

That said, I hope you enjoyed it. I never thought, when I started writing "Of Clouds, Seeds, and Apple Trees," that I would be writing a trilogy of stories for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, nor did I realize that my OC Violet Tempest would grow as much as she did.

So let me say once more, thank you so much for reading my stories. For any of you who are interested, this isn't the end of my writing. I plan on writing other stories. There is definitely one in the works for Violet Tempest, which takes place after the Applejack/Rainbow Dash trilogy, though I am sure to revisit the couple to see how they are doing.

Until then, thank you for reading. You have all of my love.

Sincerely,

The Lotus Tea Dragon