I can keep you safe, I can keep you happy.

by Phxntxm

Rating: teen
Tags: Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, Dark, Sad
Length: 11730

After a fun day at Twilight's with Applejack, Rainbow learns something has terrible has happened.

After a fun day at Twilight's with Applejack, Rainbow learns something has terrible has happened, who's going to be the one that can keep her spirits up? Will it lead to something she wasn't expecting?

Dramatic reading by GoombaBrony

Published 2012-01-30 14:48:42 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-06 10:13:51 UTC

Just a Normal Day

Chapter 1

The wind in Rainbow Dash's mane, the feeling of the world rushing by her faster than anypony else she knew could go, this was the best feeling in the world she figured. “This is the life, better than that dumb farm Applejack has to work at.” She smiled to herself as she closed her eyes and tried to perform a simple flip without looking. Her philosophy was to make things more challenging—doing things the simple way just wasn't fun.

Neither was crashing into a wall she found out the hard way. She'd managed to botch another trick by not paying attention, but instead of crashing into Twilight Sparkle's library, she ended up in the side of Applejack's barn.

“Ah swear ya manage ta mess up more tricks than ya actually pull off Rainbow.” Applejack smirked at her with that look she always used when Rainbow made a fool of herself, which, just like Applejack had stated, was quite a lot. She was the element of honesty for a reason. Rainbow just leered at her as she slid down the barn and landed upside-down on her head, but the leer didn't phase Applejack. “What are ya even doin' practicin' over here? Don't you normally practice flying in that field near Twilight's library?”

Rainbow began to right herself and said, “Well yeah, but the few times-”

“Few?” Applejack continued to smiled.

Rainbow glared at her, “Fine, the many times that I mess up, I kept crashing into her tree-library-house-thing. Apparently all her books kept getting knocked off the shelves, and her books are more important to her than me getting into the Wonderbolts.” She rolled her eyes, “Who even cares about books? They're so boring! All they do is try to teach you stuff that you could go out on your own and learn by DOING anyway!”

“Maybe they'd teach ya to stop your crash landings so much.” Applejack's smile was starting to get on Rainbow's nerves.

“Quit smiling! And why must you always be so sarcastic?”

“Now yer startin' ta sound like Rarity, ya didn't even answer my question." Applejack looked at her inquisitively "Why are ya practicin' here?”

“Oh yeah, well since her books kept getting knocked off the shelf or whatever, she said I was causing such a mess all the time that I had to either find a new place to practice, or help her clean. And there was no way I was going to clean if I didn't have to. So I looked for a new place, and the area around your farm is so open!”

“Just try not ta break anything. Ah work hard ta keep things lookin' spiffy 'round here, Ah'd like to keep it that way. Now get along, Ah'm about ta go eat”

Rainbow started to flap her wings and fly away. “Ugh, fine, now who's sounding like Rarity?”

Applejack just shook her head, the smile back on her face as walked back to her family’s house, just having finished the day's work on the farm with Big Macintosh; they were going back to eat a nice supper that had already been prepared by Granny Smith. Applejack's smile grew as she thought about the food she was going to eat. “Nothing is as good as Granny Smith's cookin' after a hard day’s work, right Big Macintosh?”

“Eeyup”

Applejack chuckled and continued trotting alongside her brother to supper. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash practicing more of her tricks; Applejack knew that mare was going to end up causing more trouble sooner or later. She always did.

Rainbow mumbled to herself as she practiced more, a little sore from yet another crash landing. “Things would be so much easier if her place was made from a cloud, it wouldn't hurt so much to crash into. Just another reason why Pegasi are the best type of ponies” She always knew how to turn something around to make herself look better. She crashed into something? Their fault for not being a Pegasus. In her mind it made complete sense, if it were anypony else, they would have taken the blame for themselves. After another hour of practicing, she headed over to Twilight Sparkle's place and pounded on the door.

“HEY TWI!!” Twilight answered the door after a couple minutes and looked at her with a little irritation.

Rainbow just blinked and looked at her blankly. “What?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Never mind, just come in. What do you need?”

Rainbow started to glance around at the library, not finding anything interesting to look at as it was a library, all there were were books. “Nothing.” She stuck her tongue at some of the books, trying to show them just how lame they were. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Twilight watching her and she pulled her tongue back in and put on a big smile.

“Well no offense, but then why are you here?” Twilight went back to her desk to study from her notes more, as she was before she was interrupted for apparently no reason.

“I don't know, I'm bored and Applejack went to eat, Fluttershy's gone for the weekend, Rarity would dress me up or something like that, and Pinkie Pie is....well....Pinkie Pie, I have no idea what would happen if I went to see her. Whatever she would want to do would be a little much after my practice session for the Wonderbolts today. So I came here.”

“Well I'm studying right now Rainbow. If you want you can grab a snack and wait for Applejack to come by later today.”

“Oh cool! AJ's coming? What for?” Maybe Rainbow's boredom would go away with a mare that was almost as cool as she was.

“Just to hang out.”

Rainbow frowned, and flopped down on the couch, “But that's just so boring! Why don't we go do something!”

“Why don't you just try it?” Twilight rolled her eyes and continued to read her notes.

“Ugh, fine, I'll go get something to eat.”

It seemed like she was the only cool pony around, everypony else was just so boring. “Well, that happens when you're the best and coolest pony ever,” she thought to herself. “You can't compete with this, I've got the looks, the athleticism, the talent, the confidence, and everything else!” She stopped and frowned, trying to figure out what she was about to do anyway.

“You were going to get a snack.”

Rainbow spun around startled and sputtering, “What...how did you...but...I didn't say that out loud...did I?”

“No, it's a new spell I was practicing on today. Before you came barging in I was practicing a spell that lets me read anypony's thoughts within 20 feet, and I must say, it's nice to know that while you aren't talking about yourself, you're still thinking about yourself, Rainbow.” Twilight was smiling at her.

“That seems like a personal privacy issue to me.”

“Well I wasn't expecting anypony till later on, it should wear off within a few minutes, I had just finished and was writing down notes about the spell when you came pounding on the door. By the way Rainbow, you should stop thinking about yourself so much, I daresay that might be the reason you crash so much? Because you're distracted?”

Rainbow blushed. “No of course not!”

Twilight chuckled, “Your lips say no, but your brain is telling me otherwise.” She beamed at her rainbow-colored friend.

“Horsefeathers.”

Twilight chuckled again, “Go get something to eat, Applejack will be here shortly.”

She sulked into the kitchen, grumbling to herself, but soon came to realize it didn't really matter if Twilight had read her thoughts earlier, all she was doing was thinking the truth. She looked at Twilight over her shoulder and saw her glance up from her work, sigh, and shake her head before looking back down. “That's pretty creepy...this spell better wear off soon,” was now her only thought. After getting a snack she laid down on Twilight's couch and dozed off while waiting for Applejack to arrive.

When the knock finally came and woke Rainbow up, she shouted, “Finally! Somepony who's actually interesting!” Twilight just shook her head, being used to the self-centered attitude of her friend, and went to answer the door.

“Hey Applejack.”

“Howdy Twilight! And a howdy ta you too Ms. Rainbow Crash.” And the smirk was back.

Rainbow groaned, “Please don't start with that name again, I barely got rid of it after saving the Wonderbolts at the competition! And how come I keep getting that look? Both of you keep giving it to me.”

The other mares just chuckled. “It's all in good fun sugarcube, we don't mean nothin' by it.”

“Rainbow Crash? Did she crash into your place now? Why don't you go somewhere where there isn't somepony’s place to crash into?”

“Because then no one could get to watch how awesome I am! I'm just giving ponies the chance to watch the best in action!”

“Is that why ya keep crashin'?” Applejack and Twilight giggled.

“Hardee har har, whatever. So what are we gonna do? Pull pranks on somepony? Truth or Dare?” Rainbow asked with a wicked grin.

Twilight just rolled her eyes for about the billionth time that evening, “I already told you, we're just hanging out, probably just sit around and talk. You said you would try it so don't whine.”

Rainbow closed her mouth as she was just about to retort. “Fine.” And she laid down and just thought to herself, “This is gonna be the most boring night of my life.”

Things are Changing

Chapter 2

The night started off boring for Rainbow Dash, just as she expected, for the other ponies however it was an outstanding night. They started by just sitting around and talking, of course this meant just Twilight and Applejack talking, while Rainbow just sat around and skulked. After a while, Twilight decided to be a little sympathetic towards her, “I think I've got something that we can all do that you might enjoy too Rainbow, close your eyes girls”

Both ponies did as they were told and felt Twilight's magical aura around them, it took a couple minutes to stop but it eventually did. “Open your eyes now” Rainbow noticed that the voice didn't seem to be coming from another source but...in her head, she could hear Twilight in her mind instead through her ears. She didn't pay too much attention to it however, because as she opened her eyes her jaw dropped.

She was in a whole new world it seemed, the library was gone and in front of her was...something. She couldn't explain it if she tried. Twilight's voice came through her head, “it's called a race car, basically the circular thing in front of you is a steering wheel, turning it counter-clockwise will cause you to go left, clockwise will make you right. There are two pedals at your hooves, the one on the right will make you speed up and the left will make you slow down. The path in front of you girls is a 'road' just follow it.”

“How in tarnation did we git in here?!” So it wasn't only Rainbow who was completely at a loss as to what was going on.

“This is a video game, it's basically a way to put yourself into another ponies point of view, and do things that you couldn't do in your own life. This a racing game, the idea behind it is that for anypony that's not a Pegasus, you can still race at speeds that would be ridiculous without any extra help. It's a competition, I know both of you girls like competitions, that's why I chose this one. The video game is actually something I came up on my own, I wanted to actually SEE things in another's point of view. With Celestia's help we-”

“Yeah yeah, that's impressive Twi, but if this is a competition then I'm going to win. What's the point of this game anyway?” Rainbow was eager to get started, so that she could win.

“Inconsiderate as usual” Twilight muttered, “the point is to just follow the track, it's pretty simple.”

Rainbow looked around the “race car” there seemed to be A LOT more than just the wheel and the pedals, but she had never seen anything of the sort. It seemed to be simple enough though, all she needed was to steer and be able to go right? Who even needs the pedal on the left, you can't win a race if you slow done. Her attention went to the steering wheel, it took a little bit of ingenuity but she realized she could put a hoof in between the holes in the wheel and steer.

“Is everypony ready?”

“Yer darn tootin'!”

After looking around a little more, she could see Twilight and her race car through the window on her left, and likewise with Applejack on her right. Looking forward she could see a red light above her. She leaned forward and grinned. “Lets do this”

“Alright, when the light turns green, that's when you go, and please don't hit anypony, either of you two, good luck girls.”

“Yer gonna need it Rainbow.”

To her right Applejack winked at her and tipped her Stetson before concentrating on the light in front of her. Rainbow did the same and placed a hind hoof on the pedal to her right. Racing was what she could do, she was the fastest flier in all of Equestria, that HAD to be an advantage somehow. There was no way she was going to lose. She focused intently on the light in front of her and breathed a deep breath. Everything went quiet and she knew it was about to start, adrenaline rushed through her and she could feel her heart beat. The wait for the start of the race was always such an intense feeling.

As soon as that light turned green she slammed her hoof down on the pedal, and she was likewise slammed into the seat she was sitting in. The car couldn't go as fast as she could of course, but it was a different type of feeling than flying was...not as good a feeling, but still excellent. As they pulled into the first turn she noticed both Applejack and Twilight pull to the inside of the turn and pull ahead of her. She followed suit and pulled closer to the inside of the curve. Twilight pulled way ahead of the other two, completely surprising both of the other two ponies.

“How are YOU winning Twi?!” Rainbow's eyes had gone completely wide in surprise.

“Was that supposed to not be offensive Rainbow? I've had a lot of practice, when you take a turn as tight as you can, it cuts the distance you have to travel down substantially.”

Now Rainbow was in last...this did NOT sit well with her, and she smugly told herself that she could easily catch up...she WAS Rainbow Dash after all.

“We're going to do fifty laps, the green light will turn yellow as you finish your forty-ninth lap, telling you you have one left to catch up, or keep your lead, or whatever else. It will turn red again as you cross after that.”

As she finished saying this they were already finishing the second turn and Rainbow could see the light ahead of her. She panicked as she realized that the laps went by a lot faster than she thought it would. She pushed the pedal even further down, but she knew she had to keep control so she didn't crash (she'd already done enough of that while flying) so couldn't press it too far.

The first turn had done it's damage and Rainbow was behind by quite a bit, all she could do is try to race as best as she could, even though a race car was a lot harder to control than she herself was. She took each turn as precisely as she possibly could, cutting inside on the turns, inches away from the grass in the middle that she could tell you weren't allowed to touch. Then sliding outside when she wasn't on a turn accelerating as much as she could before slowing down a little to hit the turns safely again. It was repetitive and exhilarating at the same time, a feeling she was used to already, having been in many races before.

At about the tenth lap she was finally able get on the inside of Applejack before they hit the turn, cutting her off from where she would like to have been, and overtaking her. “Now I'm coming after you Twi” She smirked and knew she had this, Twilight might have had practice at the game, but Rainbow had done this a lot more than she had. After a couple more laps she was directly on Twilight's tail. The race was hers. A smile crept its way onto her lips.

She passed Twilight at the back half of the thirty-seventh lap and won just like she knew she would. The odd cringe had completely left her mind as she waited for the race to be over so she could rub it her win in her friends' faces.

The world paused for a second and went black, and in another second they were back in the library. The flash of the images made Rainbow dizzy and she lay down, she saw the other ponies doing the same as her. Twilight and Applejack were laughing and talking about the race.

“Ah'm surprised you did so well Twilight, no offense or nothin', but bein' a bookworm and all doesn't really seem like ya would know how to race!”

“It's fine Applejack, I normally wouldn't be good at something like that and I know it, but like I said, I've had a lot of practice on the game. The project that allowed this game to exist is quite astounding though! Celestia and I made a virtual world with multiple zones allowing us to-” she stopped as she saw the blank stares coming from her two friends and she laughed. “Never mind, it is intriguing though! Trust me!”

All three of the ponies were exhausted after the race, even though they just pressed pedals and turned a wheel, it still managed to take a lot out of them. They sat around and talked for a while again, and with Rainbow in a much better mood after that race, it was a lot more light-hearted, and she was actually included. After an hour or so the topic got to what any group of fillies will end up talking about...colts. Or it was for Twilight, much to Rainbow's surprise however, she found out Applejack was into fillies!

“You're gay!?” Rainbow's jaw dropped.

“Rainbow...first of all saying it like that can offend some ponies. And second of course she is, everypony else knows that, how do you not? She never tried to keep it a secret.”

Applejack shook her head and smiled, “Ya never spend time with any of us Rainbow, yer always either practicin' your tricks, or workin' on tha weather. If yer ever with us it's for a little bit, and ya end up gettin' bored and leavin'. That's probably why ya didn't know.”

“I guess, sorry if I insulted you, I was just a little surprised is all.”

“That's fine sugarcube, if ah didn't know any better I coulda seen that outburst as excitement.” Applejack said slyly with a wink and a chuckle.

Rainbow looked genuinely disgusted “What? Eww no!!” The hurt was evident on Applejack's face, and it took a moment for Rainbow what she just said and she cringed. “Shit! AJ that's not what I meant I swear! I just...am taken aback by all this...I've never met someone that's...into fillies before, it's not something I've put much thought into. You're still my best friend, I'm the Element of Loyalty AJ, I promise that won't ever happen again.” She looked at Applejack despairingly, hoping to see forgiveness in her friend.

Twilight looked sympathetically at Rainbow, she knew that Rainbow didn't mean what she said. “Applejack she's telling the truth, I know she is.”

Applejack just lay her head on her hooves and looked at Rainbow sadly. “Ah know she didn't mean it, that don't mean it didn't hurt.”

Rainbow looked even more sad than Applejack did. “AJ...I'm sorry...I've just ruined the night, I'm sorry Twilight” She looked at her lavender friend nearly crying, “I'm sorry...I think I'll just go home now before I make it worse.” She floated slowly to the door and left quietly. She started to fly home as she realized what a fool she just made of herself. “I can't believe I just did that, what is wrong with me? I don't have a problem with somepony who is into fillies, why did I freak out like that?” She stopped abruptly in mid-air.

“WHERE THE HAY DID MY HOME GO?!” The cloud her home used to be on was no longer there! There was just...air. She heard a cough behind her and she whirled around. “DERPY! What happened to my home!?”

“I uh...I kind of...I broke the cloud it was on...”

Rainbow felt more anger than she had ever felt before bubble in her very core and she started to shake uncontrollably. “You...did....what?”

“I didn't mean to I swear! I was going after this cloud here! I kind of...missed...I'm sorry.”

“So what exactly happened to my home then?” She knew the answer obviously, but she just couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening, there was no way, on top of ruining her friends' night THIS happened to her?!

Derpy pointed down, Rainbow followed where she pointed and saw the ground...nothing special about it. “It broke on the ground and it disappeared...clouds are really sensitive Rainbow Dash.”

All the anger Rainbow had previously felt left, she felt like her whole body had just deflated and all feeling left her. She went completely numb as the realization hit her: her whole life had just changed in an instant, she was homeless.

New Beginnings

Chapter 3

The scream from Rainbow Dash could be heard all the way back at the library, during the time that Rainbow was sulking to her home, Applejack had started to walk home as well. She had barely left the door when she heard Rainbow's yell. She immediately rushed back into Twilight's home, causing a confused pony to look down at her as Twilight was heading up to bed.

“Ah think somethin's wrong with Rainbow, Ah heard her yell.” Twilight needed no further encouragement, she gave Applejack a quick nod and begun to follow her out the door. “Think she's still upset Twi?”

“Probably, otherwise why else would she yell? She was probably just angry and yelled up at the sky or something.”

“Ah guess we'll see.” It was a short gallop to where Applejack heard Rainbow yell. They slowed to a trot as they saw her sitting on the ground alone, staring up at the sky. “Rainbow?” She took another step closer as she elicited no response, “Rainbow, Ah heard ya yell, what's the matter?”

Rainbow didn't take her eyes off the same spot in the sky she had been looking at, and she whispered barely enough for Applejack to hear her, “I haven't lived anywhere else in my life. I grew up there, I never moved, after my parents were...killed, I felt like I needed to take care of the place they raised me. I never left it, never before has something meant so much to me. And now it's gone, just like that, it's gone.”

Both of the listening ponies' eyes were already wide when they learned about Rainbow's parents, but as the realization of why their friend was upset hit them, their mouths dropped. Applejack stepped forward and put her hooves around Rainbow's neck, pulling her into a hug that all three knew she desperately needed at that moment. Never before had the other two see Rainbow cry the way she was right now. Twilight looked at the spot that Rainbow's house used to be, just an empty spot in the sky fading away into the far away stars, no beautiful home constructed of the softest material known to ponykind.

Emptiness, a perfect comparison to the way Rainbow felt, her feelings embodied perfectly in the blackness of the sky. “Rainbow...ah...ah had no idea about yer parents, why didn't ya ever tell us?”

“I can't be seen as a weak pony, that's not me. Ever since that day I've made myself the toughest pony I could be. I had to be to survive on my own, this only happened when I was a little filly, that day changed me into who I am now.” Rainbow closed her eyes as she began to recount the terrible events.

It was late at night after Rainbow's mother tucked her into her cloud bed and read her a bedtime story. Rainbow had been asleep for about five hours when she heard a bloodcurtling scream that she knew could only have come from her mother. The sound woke her up and left her heart pounding a mile a minute.

She whispered as quietly as she could, “Mom?” she realized that her mother obviously couldn't have heard her at the volume she was whispering, but as she was about to ask again a little louder she opened her door at the same time.

Her mouth was left agape as she saw the sight that would be burned into her mind for years and years to come. She saw two Pegasi standing in her living room whom she had never met, and her father lying face down in a pool of his own blood, a knife sticking straight up out of his back. Her mother was sobbing fiercely lying on her back at the hooves of one of the intruders. She could see the sadistic grin on the colt's face as he slid the knife straight across the throat of Rainbow's mother.

Tears were streaming down her face as the two colts began to ransack her living room, she couldn't rip her eyes away from her mother's own as she used the last moments of her life to reach out to Rainbow. As if trying to comfort her, to show her everything was going to be okay. One of the colts pointed to Rainbow's room, forcing her eyes away from her mother's as she scrambled away from the door to hide under her bed.

She put her head in her hooves, trying to block out the world around her, hoping that this was all a terrible nightmare and she would wake up any moment now. But she never did. She listened as she could hear the colt rummaging through her stuff, taking everything he could get his greedy hooves on. After a while she heard him walk away, the front door slam, and she knew it was safe to get up.

It still took her a lot of inner-strength to do so, she didn't want to get up out of her hiding spot, it managed to keep her safe from the burglars, maybe it could keep her safe forever. But she wasn't a completely naïve pony, and forced herself to get up and look around. Her room was a wreck, she couldn't find a single thing that was valuable in anyway to her...except for the picture of her parents. The colt had knocked it on the ground and cracked the glass covering the photo that she would end up keeping as long as she possibly could. It had a tear running all the way from the bottom to the top from the glass cracking, but it was hers, and it hadn't been taken.

She picked up the picture and walked slowly into the living room, for a long time she looked down at her mother she had no idea what she was going to do anymore. Rainbow lay down next to her mother and rested her head on her belly and placed the photo in front of her where she could see it. She wept herself to sleep laying in that exact spot.

All three ponies were crying after Rainbow's story. Not once during the story did her eyes leave the spot where her home had once stood, she shifted a little bit and pulled the photo out from under her and placed it upright in front of the ponies. “I'm not materialistic at all, this is the only thing I had in my home that wasn't made of a cloud. This is the only thing I have left...again.” She put the photo down again and lay her head on top of it, silently shedding more tears.

“Rainbow, oh mah gosh Rainbow, Ah'm so sorry. Ya watched all of that happen? Ah can't believe that happened! Ah knew you were strong, but that strong? Ah had no idea...”

Applejack couldn't speak anymore and hugged Rainbow's neck again, “Nopony did, I never told anypony. I didn't even tell Fluttershy, she obviously knew something had happened since I was living by myself now, but she's too polite to ask about it. I've had nightmares at least every week since that day...

“Things don't work the same way in Cloudsdale as they do here, news didn't spread, and only the authorities and I know what happened. The next week I begged the captain of the weather team to give me a position there, I knew I needed money if I was going live by myself. I was small and couldn't do much, but I worked hard to do anything I possibly could.

“I forced myself to be strong, I had to be, that's why I am the way I am now, because of that day. I was able to keep myself together as well as my home. That place was proof of everything I had done, a self-accomplishment type of thing. And it's all gone, what do I do now?”

Applejack wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up, extending a hoof to her azure friend, “yer comin' to stay with me, and ah am not taking no fer an answer. Ah don't necessarily have a spare room, or another bed for ya, but Ah'm sure you can make a bed out of a cloud, and stay in my room right?”

Rainbow took her hoof and nodded, “I can easily, but why would you want to do that for me after what I blurted out earlier?”

“Key word being blurted sugarcube, Ah know ya didn't mean it, or ya wouldn't be talking to me right now. Yer comin' ta stay with me, and that's final.”

“But-”

“Fer the third time now, no buts. Now come on.”

Applejack walked past Rainbow leading the way to what was going to be her new beginning. Rainbow looked nervously from Applejack walking away to Twilight, who was looking at her with tears still in her eyes, and a soft smile on her lips. “I'm so proud of you Rainbow, you have no idea how amazingly brave what you did was. I don't know of anypony else who could have gotten through that on their own, you're an amazing pony, don't forget that.”

Rainbow's tears transformed into a happy cry as she jumped at Twilight to give her a big hug. Twilight smiled and embraced her, “next time don't be alone like that, you have friends for a reason. Each one of us is here when you need it, take advantage of that fact. Right now Applejack is the one you should be paying attention to, now go.”

“Thanks Twilight.” Rainbow broke the embrace and smiled at Twilight, she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes and turned to grab her photo and a bunch of the cloud that Derpy had been aiming for before the damage had been done. She sped after Applejack who had been casually walking towards her farm. She had been confident that Rainbow would follow her shortly, and hadn't even looked over her shoulder as she heard Twilight and Rainbow talking. As Rainbow caught up, she turned and smiled at her. “Thanks to you too Applejack, seriously, I'm really happy you're letting me stay with you.”

“Aw shucks sugarcube, it ain't nothin', I owe ya.”

Rainbow looked confused, “how do YOU owe ME?”

“If ya hadn't have been so strong, then Ah wouldn't have had the best friend in the world comin' ta live with me right now” Rainbow blushed and looked down, tears coming to her eyes again.

“I can't believe how nice you girls have been to me, Twilight was right, I need to take avantage of friends more often. You girls are the best friends I could ask for as well.” Rainbow hugged Applejack again and broke it after a couple of seconds, coughed, and looked around embarrassed. “Weeell I think that's enough of the sappiness, lets totally forget any of this happened, kay?”

Applejack chuckled, “glad ta see yer back ta normal Rainbow, Ah don't like seein' ya get down like that..”

“Psh, I was totally fine!” This elicited another chuckle from Applejack and grinned at her in a much more Rainbow Dash-y way than she had been acting. When Applejack looked away Rainbow's grinned softened into a normal smile, “That eggbrain Twi knows what she's talking about sometimes, I can't believe I overlooked at exactly how much my friends rock! Especially Applejack, she offered to let me stay with her so easily...she doesn't exactly have much room at her place.”

Applejack caught Rainbow smiling at her from the corner of her eye and turned to look at her, “don't tell me yer gettin' all sappy again already!”

Another blush found its way onto Rainbow's cheek, “I totally was not!!”

“Sure ya weren't, I believe ya alright!” Rainbow's blush didn't go away at all, but she just rolled her eyes and kept heading forward. A smile still managed to creep its way onto her face while Applejack looked away.

When they got to Applejack's house Rainbow started to get nervous, she began to realize how much of a change she was about to receive. Her whole life had changed for the second time in one day, she hoped with every fiber of her being that this change was going to be for the better. Applejack led Rainbow up to her new room, Rainbow placed her picture on the ground and began to assemble her bed.

“Night Rainbow.” Applejack looked over to the other bed after getting no response and found that Rainbow was already asleep, she couldn't blame her though, today had been quite a day for the filly, Applejack chuckled and soon fell asleep as well.

Rainbow woke up in the middle of the night, rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned. “Hey AJ, where's the bathroom at?”

…

“AJ? Are you awake?” Rainbow got up rubbing her eyes again and walked over to Applejack's bed, where she was facing away from her, and poked her friend. “Wake uuuup! I need to go to the bathroom!” Rainbow made Applejack roll towards her and saw a scared expression on her friends face, blood soaking the sheets where her head had been, and her throat was slit.

Rainbow screamed and backed away from the bed, and ran into something soft. She slowly turned around terrified and came face to face with the gray face of the colt that had been haunting her dreams for countless years. The same sadistic grin she remembered on his face, the same glinting blade dripping blood that she could remember so well. She dashed away from him as fast as she possibly could and hid behind Applejack's bed, broke down and started to cry.

“Raaaaaaaaainbooooooooow”

She was breathing in quick rapid breaths now as she saw his face edge around the bed to look at her. She whimpered and backed away from him as much as she could, her back against the wall as he stood there sneering at her. Then he lunged at her faster than she had expected.

“RAINBOW!”

She whipped her eyes open to find Applejack looking at her with a worried expression on her face. “Rainbow it was a nightmare, it's fine, yer awake now.” Rainbow jumped at her crying for the umpteenth time that day, Applejack just held her close as she cried into her mane. “Rainbow, sleep with me tonight, if ya try to sleep alone again yer just gonna have another nightmare.” Applejack felt a nod in her mane and led Rainbow to her own bed and lay down, pulling Rainbow beside her. She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow and pulled her close, putting her head on top of Rainbow's.

She whispered into Rainbow's ear trying to get her to calm down, “it's fine, it was just a nightmare, ya don't have to worry. I can keep you safe.”

Rainbow's crying began to cease, and she started to drift off to sleep again. She scooted closer to her friend, and right before she fell asleep she heard Applejack whisper in her ear again, but she couldn't make out what she said. She was out.

Just as things start to settle

Author's note:
I apologize for this taking so long, I usually do not take this long to write. I was trying to figure out which way to take my story, it could have gone many different ways and I kept changing things around. So thank you for being patient, and I promise Chapter 5 won't take this long.

Chapter 4

Rainbow Dash woke up after a completely nightmare-free sleep, it had been a long time since she was able to go to sleep without worrying about what she would see when she did. Even though it was obvious to her that no pony could fight something that was in a dream, it's still the feeling that there was somepony there that made all worries go away. When she woke up however she was alone in Applejack's bed, and she felt the pang of loneliness hit her as soon as she realized there was nopony with her. She yawned loudly and looked around her friend's room, she hadn't really been in this room too much. It was actually pretty empty which surprised Rainbow at first, but as she started to think about Applejack more it started to make sense. Applejack had a family that she was able to spend the time with and Applejack wasn't much of a loner. She probably spent most of her time with her family and didn't need to go to her room to be alone too much.

Rainbow rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and pulled the blanket off of herself as she got out of Applejack's bed. Today was supposed to be a slow day for the weather ponies and she didn't need to go into work today, so she walked outside as she tried to figure out what she was going to do today. She saw Applejack working in her field and decided to go say hi before she started her slow day. She started to float over to her friend slowly, as Applejack noticed Rainbow coming she stopped bucking apples and smiled to the pony she was now roommates with. Rainbow felt a little flutter of happiness bubble inside of her when she saw that smile, she found it odd because that had never happened before.

“Hey there Rainbow, didja sleep well last night?” Her smile seemed genuine so Rainbow didn't think she was making fun of her for the nightmare she knew made her look weak.

“After getting in bed with you I did.” Rainbow felt a little blush touch her cheeks as soon, and an embarrassed smile found it's way to her face as she thought to herself, “Why the hay am I blushing? That's soooo not awesome...”

Applejack's smile never faltered, and she didn't sound embarrassed at all when she spoke, “Ah couldn't just let ya sleep there through a nightmare could Ah? We all know nightmare's aren't somethin' ta mess around with. Now that ya live with me, Ah can be there if ya need help with anythin'.” Applejack's smile was starting to spread to Rainbow, it was making her feel happy, that annoyed Rainbow just a bit.

“Can we please stop this sappiness? Seriously...this is getting to be just too much for me. And also...don't tell anypony about last night, any of last night, that was, as Rarity would put it, uncouth. It would hurt my reputation if anypony found about that.” Rainbow puffed her chest out trying to show that she was still Rainbow Dash, the best pony around.

Applejack “That ain't a problem Rainbow, Ah can do that. What are ya up to today?” Applejack began to get back to work as Rainbow watched her.

“I really don't know, I don't have to go in to work today so I'll probably just practice for the Wonderbolts some more.”

“Ah think ya need to just sit back and take a break today Rainbow, yer life is going to be different now and Ah don't think that you've realized how much yet, just kick back today and do nothin'. Collect yer thoughts a little bit, figure out what yer goin' ta do now.”

Rainbow nodded, “I think I can do that AJ, thanks. By the way, can you not tell anypony about how lame I was being? That would severely hurt my reputation.”

“Ah can do that if ya want, it's not like Ah'm gonna go around trying to make you look bad on purpose. Now git.”

Rainbow smiled at her, thanked her, and flew into the sky to find a nice cloud to rest on. It was a pretty cloudy day, so she really didn't have to go far. She lay down on the soft material, sighed to herself, closed her eyes, and let her mind wander. She knew that she would be able to buy a new house, she was never very good at saving money and didn't have much saved away. So she was going to have to make the money back, her parents' place had been a pretty nice place, so it made her a little sad that she wasn't going to be able to get the same type of place back.

It did however mean that she was going to have to mooch off her friend for a little while, which she had mixed feelings about. She felt bad that she'd be taking advantage of Applejack's hospitality a little bit by living there and not giving anything in return. But it meant that she was living with Applejack, that was going to be pretty awesome. She was the mare that was closest to Rainbow in personality, in raw talent, and the friendly competitions they always had kept things exciting. Rainbow would definitely admit that Applejack was her best friend, no doubt about it.

She figured she could fix the bad feelings by helping out with Applejack's work on the farm when she needed it, so that was pretty simple to fix. But she seriously owed Applejack for letting her stay in her place in the first place. It had been only last night that Rainbow's place had been destroyed, but she didn't feel depressed at all. Staying with Applejack was actually cheering her up, and not having a home to go back to wasn't bad at all.

However it was the memories that were involved with the place that was killing her, she'd lived there since she could remember. She promised herself she would never let anything happen to it, and she failed. Not only did she fail herself, she felt like she failed her parents as well. She didn't like failure in general, and with something that was so important to her, it hurt her pretty bad. Rainbow sighed and tried to take her mind off of what had happened.

Applejack told her to collect her thoughts, so that's what she tried to do. After thinking about it for a while, she didn't even know if she wanted to get a new place to stay. She hated being alone, it didn't suit her well, she didn't have anypony to show off to at anytime of the day then. It was the sentimental value that kept her at her parents' place, and not the allure of having a great house. She sighed again and turned over to look down at the farm, she could see Applejack taking some apples back to a cart that was about half full.

Rainbow closed her eyes and her mind flashed back to when she was sleeping with Applejack, that was the fastest she had ever fallen asleep before, and directly after a nightmare? Usually that kept her up for another hour or so before she fell back asleep, but with Applejack it had been within in seconds. She had felt so comfortable, so safe, and every worry she had had just gone away immediately. Rainbow had never felt like that before and it made something stir inside her, but she had no idea why or what it was.

She shook her head and ignored the feeling, Rainbow didn't like anything she didn't understand. So she began to try to figure out what she was going do, find a new place and live in solitude again? Or ask if Applejack would mind if she stayed rooming with her. Rainbow figured that Applejack wouldn't care much, she was going to pay rent of course, that would be cheaper than buying a new place to stay anyway. But the problem would be Applejack's family, they just knew that she was staying there while she tried to get back on her feet. They were kind and all, but they were very family oriented, opposite of how Rainbow was.

The only decision Rainbow could come up with was that it was hard to think on an empty stomach. She'd completely forgotten about breakfast, so she got up and flew down to Applejack's house. It felt weird just walking straight in without knocking, but it was where she lived at the moment (whether temporarily or not). She walked into the kitchen and took a little bit of food, trying not to be rude and raid much of what was in there. She started to walk upstairs with her food before pausing and wondering if they minded if she ate upstairs. She laughed at the childish thought and remembered that she was an adult, she could wherever the hay she felt like.

After having a nice breakfast she laid down on the cloud bed she had failed to sleep on last night. On the desk next to her sat the photo of her parents, she tenderly put a hoof on the picture and took a deep breath in and out. She stared into the photo completely lost in it, she was completely lost in thought that wound up going all over the place. She ended up staring at her very last memorabilia from her house for three hours straight, completely oblivious to anything around her. She didn't notice Applejack come in the room at all.

“Are ya alright sugarcube?” Rainbow blinked and turned her head surprised.

“How long have you been there?”

“Just a couple minutes, Ah came up ta take a shower because Ah was done with the farm fer today and Ah came in and saw ya just layin' there, after Ah take a shower come down ta eat some dinner. The rest of the family is visiting relatives for a week and Ah'm taking care of the farm by myself right now. So things won't get weird or nothin'.”

“Dinner? But it's not that late is it? Isn't it lunch time?”

Applejack answered her simply, “Dinner is at this time for country folk, we usually work hard later in the day and don't have time to eat a big meal then, so we eat our big meal in the middle of the day.”

Rainbow got up and stretched her wings and legs, “That's weird, but I'm fine with that, I'm always in the mood to eat.” Applejack gave Rainbow a smile and walked over to the bathroom to clean up before going to eat. Rainbow began to walk around the house looking at her surrounding, she had never really been anywhere except Applejack's room and the kitchen before. She walked downstairs and turned into the living room, all around it were pictures of the various Apple family members. “Yep they're definitely family oriented.”

She couldn't walk into a single room without finding some type of picture, or something that was obviously memorabilia for somepony in the family. She began to wonder how she would have turned out if that traumatic incident from her past had never happened. Would she have been so headstrong? Would she have had the tenacity she had? Would she even have been anything like she was now? Rainbow shuddered as she thought about how a single moment can change who you are forever, it's a pretty scary thought to have and it made her worry about the future again.

She sighed and continued to walk around the house and check everything out, while still lost in thought. If she'd had a family to grow up with, she surely wouldn't have been any less awesome than she was now. She would have just been awesome in different ways, she could have been more of a family person than she was, and that sure didn't make Applejack any less of an amazing pony.

Again she had that feeling run through her, and again she put it at the back of her mind and continued walking around. She heard the water shut off from upstairs and decided to head back up to Applejack's room, she found the door open and walked in while Applejack was brushing her mane. “Ah'll be just a minute Rainbow, Ah'm almost done.”

Rainbow lay down and watched her brush her mane waiting for her to finish. When she did Rainbow followed her downstairs and into the kitchen, she always loved the Apple family's cooking, they were the best at what they did and no one could contest that. She made an excellent meal for the two of them, but Rainbow didn't eat all of it, telling Applejack “It's going to take me a while to get used to eating a big meal now instead of later. I might forage around for some snacks later.”

Applejack nodded and told her that was fine, and they spent the rest day talking and walking around the farm. Rainbow told Applejack that she was going to help on the farm whenever Applejack needed it, she was told that she didn't have to, and Applejack could handle everything. But Rainbow persisted, she wanted to hold a little dignity that she felt she was slowly losing with the past couple of days that she had been acting so “un-Rainbow Dash-ish” as she put it.

Applejack had learned from last apple season to accept help when it was offered, so she ended up agreeing to Rainbow help. The whole time she was with Applejack, Rainbow had been trying to figure out how to tell her that she had decided she didn't really want to find her own place again, but she couldn't figure out how to bring the topic to that. Eventually Applejack did it for her, “So Ah told ya ta collect yer thoughts earlier, didja figure anythin' out on how to find a new place for yer own?”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her mane with a hoof, “Well I did think about it, and honestly, I don't really want to find a new place.”

Applejack stopped walking and looked at Rainbow with her head cocked to the side, “What do ya mean ya don't want to find a new place? Where are ya goin' ta live then?”

“I was uh...kind of wondering if I could just stay with you permanently.” The look on Applejack's face told Rainbow that she was definitely taken aback, “I know it's a lot to ask but I put a lot of thought into it and I just don't like living by myself anymore. Just one day of staying here and I can already tell that, staying with a friend would be amazing, and I think it would do me good too. I've been happier here in one day than I ever was whenever I was alone in my place, and I wouldn't be much of a burden...I'd pay rent and everything.”

Applejack's face was still full of surprise as Rainbow watched her, trying to figure out what was going through her mind. Was she even considering it at all? It was obviously a lot to consider and Rainbow was about to take it back as Applejack exclaimed, “Why of course ya can! Yer always bein' such a loner Rainbow, living with somepony else is going to be amazing for ya! This is going to be totally amazing!”

Now it was Rainbow's turn to be surprised, that was definitely not the response she was expecting to get, she was expecting either a no or “let me talk ta my family about that before Ah answer” or something along those lines. But Applejack looked totally excited to have Rainbow living with her permanently, Rainbow got over her surprise and a grin spread over her face. “That was a lot easier than I was expecting!” It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from off of her and the happiness she had been feeling rushed back into her.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, with both of the mares talking and laughing the day by. They ate dinner....or as Applejack insisted, “supper” and continued the day as they were before. Before they knew it it had been dark for quite a while and they figured it was probably time they got in bed. Rainbow grabbed an apple before heading upstairs and began to walk to her cloud bed before pausing and taking a second look towards Applejack's bed. The memory of sleeping there last night, and feeling much safer and more comfortable came back to her. Applejack caught the hesitant look that Rainbow had and spoke softly to her, “Rainbow if ya don't want ta have another nightmare ya can sleep with me again. Ah don't mind at all.”

Rainbow still hesitated, already feeling like she was taking advantage of her friend when she was allowed to live there permanently now. However if Applejack offered, she decided it couldn't hurt. She climbed into the other side of the bed and gave Applejack a nervous smile. Applejack returned the smile and pulled her into a hug and the feeling Rainbow kept getting came back for the third time. She looked into Applejack's eyes and before she knew what she was doing, found herself kissing Applejack.

After a second her mind caught up to what her body was doing and her eyes flung wide open and she pulled back to see Applejack laying there with her eyes confused, and her mouth slightly open. “OH MY GOSH! I'm so sorry! I have no idea why I just did that, it was completely on impulse, I didn't mean to, I'm so sor-” before she could finish however Applejack had pulled her back and she found her lips meeting with Applejack's again.

Rainbow's mind was racing a mile a minute, asking herself a billion questions at the same time. “Does this mean I like mares? Do I like AJ? Does she like me? When did I start to like her? That's probably what that feeling is!” Applejack deepened the kiss, and Rainbow felt her body completely melt against Appleack's, and her mind clouded and she lost track of what was going on in there. Whatever this meant, she knew she liked it, and that's all that mattered.

After a minute or two Rainbow pulled back and looked into Applejack's eyes, there was something new in there but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Her eyes began to flutter shut as a sudden exhaustion came upon her, she scooted closer to Applejack for the second night in a row, and nuzzled herself into her mane. A huge smile was on her face as she fell asleep wrapped in Applejack's arms.

Here was another moment that was going to change her future drastically, but this time she wasn't worried, she was going to enjoy this change.

Will she? Won't she?

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see that this morning Applejack was still lying next to her. She guessed that Applejack probably didn't have as much stuff to do on the farm and was able to sleep in later this morning, which suited Rainbow just fine. She lay there in Applejack's hooves thinking about what happened, and what was going happen to her now. Where they together now? Did Rainbow even want that? She wasn't sure, she didn't even think she was into mares. Until last night no mare had ever made her feel the way Applejack had, she had no idea what that meant.

She began to get scared, but had no idea why, so she yawned and put the thoughts she was having out of her mind once again. She felt thirsty and started to pull away from her sleeping friend while trying not to wake her up, it didn't work. She felt Applejack stir against her and pulled Rainbow closer. “Come on AJ, I'm thirsty, let me get something to drink.” Applejack just grumbled and pulled Rainbow's face closer to hers and kissed her. This was still completely new and an unexpected thing to Rainbow so her body went rigid for a second in surprise, but after another second, she loosened up and pulled her face away from Applejack's.

“Okay that seriously isn't helping me be any less thirsty.” Applejack giggled and let go of her friend to get a drink. Rainbow started to get up and was sitting on the edge of the bed when she turned back to Applejack, “You know, if you had told me two days ago that I would be living in your house, making out with you, and sleeping in the same bed...I would have told you you were hanging around Pinkie Pie too much.” Applejack giggled again and Rainbow rolled her eyes and thought to herself, “so she gets all giggly when she's sleepy, I guess that's better than getting cranky...”

“Come on, it don't matter now, that's the way it is, and Ah know yer happier.” Applejack looked at Rainbow beaming happily. Rainbow looked back it her, uncertain of what to say. Applejack's beam changed to a worried expression. “Ya are happy about this....ain't ya?”

Rainbow leaned back over and gave Applejack a kiss, “Trust me, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't be in this bed right now. It's just complicated, I don't know what to think right now, all of this is just completely unexpected, and I don't know what it means.”

Applejack's smile returned as she replied, “Well that's simple! Yer into mares, and ya just didn't know it before.”

Rainbow decided to tease a little, “Well what if I'm still into colts more?” She saw Applejack's face harden.

“Ya better not be, I'll kick that colt's hindquarters.” Rainbow could easily tell that Applejack did want this thing to be a relationship, not just a one night happening. That made her realize that Applejack probably had liked her before last night, and she wasn't sure what to think about that.

“I was messing with you, but how long have you liked me Applejack?” She could see surprise on Applejack's face as she thought about the question.

“Uh...yeah, about that. It's probably been somethin' like 6 months or so.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at Applejack, as she smiled back at her with a small, sheepish smile.

“Why didn't you ever tell me AJ?”

“Ah tried Rainbow! But yer always doin' yer own thing, and it's so hard ta get ya alone.” She sighed and continued explaining herself, “Yer a very intimidating mare sometimes Rainbow, it's not very easy ta talk about somethin' like that to ya. Ah just kinda gave up and hoped you would start somethin', I knew that if ya felt somethin', you'd be brave enough to tell me about it. And well, it ended up that way, so ya can't blame me.”

Rainbow shook her head, “You still should have told me AJ.”

“Fine, Ah can tell ya now if you'd like.” Applejack looked square in Rainbow's eyes, “Ah've liked you for about half a year now, yer beautiful, yer the only pony who can make me laugh by being yerself, ya don't back down from no pony. If Ah ever need anything, Ah can count on you to be there even if nopony else is, yer the only friend Ah have that can keep up with me, compete with me, but still keep things friendly. Yer the strongest pony Ah know, Ah couldn't name a single pony who is stronger than you are, ya go after what ya want no matter who or what gets in yer way, and you always get it. Do you want me to keep going?”

Rainbow was stunned by how much Applejack thought had obviously put into...well...her. It greatly flattered her, considering she valued Applejack's opinion, as her best friend, more than any other pony. She lay there with her mouth slightly open, just staring at Applejack, not exactly sure what to say. Applejack closed her eyes and leaned back into Rainbow's hooves, “This isn't just a crush Rainbow, Ah know it isn't. Ah think Ah'm in love with you.”

The only time Rainbow felt as amazing as she did at that moment was when she saved the Wonderbolt's at the Best Young Flier's competition, and they had complimented her. But honestly, it didn't even compare to her feelings now, her heart completely soared and tears had come to her eyes as she wrapped her hooves back around Applejack and held her close. She was still thirsty, but she really didn't want to get up right now, she could deal with it and go back to sleep with Applejack, so she could sleep in a little more.

Applejack had solidified the feelings Rainbow was having, and she was absolutely certain that she liked this mare laying next to her. The only things she needed to figure out is if she wanted to be in a relationship with her, Applejack wanted it she knew, and she probably was thinking that they were in one now. But that wasn't Rainbow's style, she flew solo, she'd never thought of being in a relationship with anypony, let alone her best friend. She seriously needed to figure this out, she was putting the questions in the back of her mind too much. She sighed and muttered out loud, “This would be a much easier decision if you weren't so amazing AJ.”

Rainbow could feel the soft breaths on her fur, signaling that Applejack had fallen asleep again, so she hadn't heard her. She rested her head on top of the sleeping mare, closed her eyes, “Eh, I'll think about it when we wake up, this is too perfect right now to ruin it....thank you Derpy for ruining my house, I never would have been here right now if it wasn't for you, you clumsy mare.” The thought put a smile on her face, and she dozed off again, a little bit excited, and a little bit anxious for the morning.

This is her choice

Chapter 6

Rainbow couldn't remember the last time she had slept so peacefully, whether or not she would have had nightmares before, she would be afraid to go to sleep in the fear that they would come back. With Applejack laying beside her however, she couldn't find a single worry in her mind when she slept, no nightmares, nothing. When she awoke she saw that Applejack was already awake and smiling at her.

She yawned and smiled back, “Watching me sleep or something?”

“Why yes, Ah was, ya should get up now, Ah want to go do something.” Applejack grinned at Rainbow again and began to get out of bed. “Hurry up! Ah'm excited now!” She couldn't stop grinning and looked pretty...well...excited.

“Go do something like...what?”

“A date! Ah finally can go on a date with you!” Her grin widened as she practically wiggled with excitement.

Rainbow gave a nervous laugh, “Well AJ, I don't know. I haven't put much thought into this yet, I'm not really sure what I want to do with us right now. I'm not the type of pony who is in a relationship, I've never been in one, I don't really know what it means.”

Applejack just looked completely confused, “But...but you kissed me! What is there to think about!? There's obviously some attraction there or ya wouldn'ta done that! Ah just confessed how Ah felt about you too...you...you led me on Rainbow.” She looked downright pissed now, “Why would you do that? Why would ya act like you liked me, and then in one night, completely change yer mind? Why would ya kiss me?”

“I wasn't thinking things through!” Rainbow had yelled when she spoke without meaning to. Applejack sat down surprised and just stared at Rainbow waiting for her to talk, she had nothing to say anymore. Rainbow sighed, “AJ you're overreacting, I wasn't leading you on, I do like you, I never said that I didn't and that I was leading you on. You're assuming that, the only thing I said is I don't know if I want to be in a relationship, I've never been in one and I don't know what I'd have to do. What if I messed up? I can't...I can't lose our friendship Applejack...” How many times had she broken down in front of this mare now? And in the span of what, two, three days? This was so not her, and she knew she had to stop being such a wimp.“Stupid emotions,” she murmured to nopony in particular.

Applejack understood what was going on now and walked over to her friend and pulled her head up with a hoof, “Rainbow, there is absolutely no reason to worry about that, Ah like you fer you, ya don't have to go and act all different if we were together. Ah want to date you, so quit acting like it's some big deal of acting different. Just be yerself and quit hollerin' like that, just give it a try sugarcube, you'll miss out on a great experience if you don't.” She gave Rainbow a reassuring smile, trying to get her to give one back.

Rainbow sat there and looked into Applejack's eyes for a good minute or so before responding, “You know Applejack, I think you're right.” She started to feel her normal confident self return, “I mean of course I'm not going to mess up! I'm me! I don't mess up.” Applejack rolled her eyes at that, but let Rainbow finish. “I'll give this a shot, I do like you a lot AJ. So...what did you want to go do?”

Applejack's eyes lit up and she shouted out in a sing-song voice, “Picniiiiiic!” Rainbow jumped a little at the sudden change in demeanor, but followed her friend...marefriend...out the door as Applejack had just bolted away to get things ready. Rainbow took a deep breath as she started to feel nervousness come back, not only had she never been in a relationship before, she had never been on a date either. She just didn't normally have time for silly stuff like that, but she figured she could make an exception for Applejack. She meant something more to Rainbow than anypony else had.

The picnic actually turned out to be a blast, Rainbow was anxious at first, but began to loosen up as she realized Applejack wasn't acting different at all, she was just being herself. Just like she had told Rainbow. After they had finished eaten, Rainbow had leaned back on her haunches watching the sky as Applejack lay her head in Rainbow's lap. After resting for a while, she asked Rainbow: “So does that mean Ah can now call ya mine?”

“Nope.”

Applejack sat up confused...again. “Wait what? What now!? What's wrong this time?!”

Rainbow simply smiled, “Oh nothing, I'm just saying, if I'm going to be in a relationship with you, I'm the alpha-pony. Therefore, I can call you mine.” Applejack grinned and felt relieved as she realized Rainbow was just messing with her.

“Ok first of all, that's not how it works, we're each others. And there is no way Ah'm goin' ta be the passive one here.”

Rainbow chuckled and looked at Applejack's eyes, she quickly tackled her to the ground and pinned her hooves down. She leaned down and kept her lips less than an inch away from Applejack's and whispered quietly, “No. I'm on top here. You. Are. Mine.” She lifted her head up and gazed down at Applejack, wanting to take in the work she had just done. She definitely succeeded, Applejack's eyes were wide, her mouth was open, and she was breathing faster. Rainbow leaned down again, to Applejack's ear, “Say it.”

Applejack shook her head and refused.

“You're not getting up till you say it Applejack.” Rainbow lifter her head up again and watched as she knew Applejack was going to give in.

Applejack looked up at Rainbow and cursed her new marefriend in her mind, “Ah'm....Ah'm yours Rainbow.”

Rainbow grinned in success and she leaned back down to close the gap between the two, Applejack returned the kiss with fervor. Rainbow was back, no more stupid emotions, her confident self was back, no more mushiness.

Well maybe just once more.

“I'm glad to call you mine AJ, I hope to always be able to.”

Sequel (still ongoing):
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/14896/Damages